Soccer’s world governing body, FIFA, claimed the 2022 World Cup in Qatar was carbon neutral.

Switzerland, France, Belgium, the UK and the Netherlands all filed complaints, via the Climate Alliance (a group that functions as a watch dog against Greenwashing) saying the claim was not true.

The Swiss Fairness Commission ruled against FIFA.

FIFA has since admitted that its claims were not true.

So, if we agree FIFA should not have made a false claim; what could FIFA have done?

 

  • FIFA could have hired a globally-recognized 3rd party to calculate the carbon footprint of the World Cup;

 

  • FIFA could then have addressed some of the carbon emissions via having that 3rd party help them become certified sustainable via a globally-recognized program. This would have included a go-forward carbon reduction plan;

 

  • There would certainly have been a gap between what their initial sustainability effort accomplished versus what the carbon footprint was calculated to be. To get to carbon neutral, they would have had to cover that gap;

 

  • To do that, they could have used legitimate/audited carbon credits that their 3rd party auditor would certify against;

 

  • Then, they could have sold sponsorship packages to advertisers, allowing FIFA to recover 100% of above costs (advisor, sustainability projects, sustainability certification, carbon credits, carbon neutral certification) by allowing the sponsors to promote that they helped fund the Certified Carbon Neutral 2022 World Cup.

 

How fast do you think those sponsorship packages would have sold out?

 

Doing the Right Thing can lead to a Good Thing!  It’s not that hard.