After Qatar in 2022, the United States, Canada and Mexico in 2026, the 2030 World Cup will be organized on three continents (South America, Europe and Africa). Which raises questions about the environmental impact.
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For the centenary of its first edition in Uruguay, the Men’s World Cup “ will unite three continents and six countries » (Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Spain, Portugal and Morocco, Editor’s note) promised Wednesday October 4 the Fifathe world football body, which has yet to validate the technical criteria and will not officially award the competition until the end of 2024, as planned.
But with the approval “ unanimous » of this unique file by the Fifa Council, the road seems clear for this unprecedented intercontinental formula, promising a complex political and logistical set-up and numerous questions around the environmental impact of major sporting events. “ Fifa continues its cycle of destruction against the biggest tournament in the world », reacted on X (ex-Twitter) the Football Supporters Europe association, deploring a formula “ horrible » for the supporters and “ without consideration ” for the environment.
A 2022 edition in Qatar already criticized
Already, the edition of Qatar in 2022 had caused a lot of ink to flow. Of the eight venues planned to host the tournament, seven were equipped with air conditioning systems. When it was awarded, the tournament was to be played as usual between mid-June and mid-July. But in Qatar, temperatures can reach 50°C in the middle of summer. Fifa finally decided to move the competition to the fall, where the weather is milder. And the air conditioning had to work during heat peaks in the middle of the day. Qatar is the country which holds the record for CO2 emissions per capita. And almost a year after this edition, what has become of all its infrastructures for this World Cup, considered the most expensive in history?
After the 2028 edition which will take place in the United States, Canada and Mexico, with 48 nations instead of 36, the choice of three continents goes even further. “ Fifa is taking the path of a competition more fragmented than ever, when it had the opportunity to design for 2030, a decisive year for the climate, what could have been an ecological revolution in the format of international events », regrets in the columns of The Team Jérôme Suissa, general delegate of Our Business to All, an association which seeks recognition, at the international criminal level, of the most serious attacks on the environment. “ It is a catastrophic choice completely out of step with the challenges and the climate emergency », also protests in the columns of The Team Antoine Miche, founder and CEO of Football Écologie France.
Organizing countries that already lack water…
Because by 2030, the water resources of Morocco, Spain and Portugal risk dwindling even further. According to the Portuguese government, 36% of the country’s territory was in a situation of severe or extreme drought last June. The Portuguese authorities had decided to ration water in the tourist region of the Algarve (south). Last summer, in the south of Spain, in the Malaga region, the water no longer flowed from the tap at night in order to guarantee the supply during the day. In Barcelona, the town hall no longer watered lawns, water restrictions had been put in place for agriculture and businesses.
In Morocco, drought has become chronic. The country has been experiencing water stress for several years. Moroccan homes struggle to be supplied with drinking water. Recently, some 11 billion euros were released to provide the country with 20 desalination plants as quickly as possible. A priority issue, because half of the desalinated seawater should be used to provide water to the population.
However, water will be needed to water the football fields in these three countries and provide tourists with drinking water. More than a million visitors visited Qatar during the 2022 World Cup, according to the Qatari news agency QNA. Not to mention the carbon footprint of the travel of the teams and the public between the three continents. “ In 2030, CO2 emissions around the competition will explode: players, supporters and managers will travel constantly by air, for a month, crossing either the Atlantic or the Mediterranean », We can read on the website of the Ecolosport Agency which supports sports stakeholders in their ecological transition.
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