Greenhouse gas footprint of the new FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 stadiums

According to FIFA, the six new stadiums out of the eight in total in Qatar hosting the 2022 World Cup will produce a greenhouse footprint of around 206 kilotons (kt). However, a Carbon Market Watch report suggests that this number will be eight times larger, amounting to 1.62 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.

The Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022

The 2022 FIFA World Cup took place in Qatar from November 20th to December 18th. This was the first time the tournament took place in an Arab country and in winter. Tickets were more expensive at this tournament, although people still flew from around the world to see their favorite team. Among the teams, England was the squad with the highest collective transfer value. However, the French football player Kylian Mbappé had the highest market value, worth 160 million U.S. dollars.

Concerns and criticism toward Qatar

After Qatar won the bid for the rights to host the World Cup back in 2010, the Qatar bid committee was accused of corruption, bribery, and cheating. Although an internal FIFA investigation dismissed the accusation, Qatar has been hardly criticized for abusing human rights during the construction of the tournament infrastructure. Other concerns included Qatar’s treatment of the LGBTQ+ community and its attitude toward the environment when building the stadiums. These became some of the main reasons why some people were not watching the World Cup.