Activists doubt 'carbon neutral' claims

LONDON • A climate activist group yesterday cast "serious doubts" on claims by Qatar 2022 World Cup organisers that this year's tournament would be carbon neutral.

"The event will have a large carbon footprint, and the findings of this report suggest the 'carbon neutrality' claim is not credible," Carbon Market Watch (CMW) said.

The non-profit body said emissions from the eight World Cup stadiums had been underestimated. It also questioned the way in which organisers said they would buy carbon credits to compensate for emissions that come from the tournament that runs from Nov 21 to Dec 18.

Qatar, which has spent tens of billions of dollars on new stadiums and World Cup-related infrastructure, said last year the tournament would be the "first" carbon-neutral World Cup.

Organisers highlighted the compact size, with just 75km between the two most distant stadiums, and the "stringent" standards set for new construction and use of solar and renewable energy. However, CMW disputes the points made, saying: "Our investigation of the available evidence casts serious doubts on this claim."

Fifa and Qatari organisers also said in a report last year the tournament would generate 3.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide - with the bulk caused by fans, players and officials flying to Qatar.

But CMW said that the estimates for emissions from the stadiums were inaccurate because they were spread over the lifetime of each ground and the true emissions from stadiums could be eight times higher.

"Despite a lack of transparency, the evidence suggests that the emissions from this World Cup will be considerably higher than expected by the organisers," said report author Gilles Dufrasne.

In response, Qatar 2022 organisers called CMW's report "speculative and inaccurate".

A spokesman added: "We are on track to hosting a carbon-neutral World Cup. The methodology used to calculate the carbon-neutral commitment is best in practice and was designed to be based on actual activity data."

The organisers also sought to talk up a new metro system, nearly 800 new electric buses and a new 800 megawatt solar power plant.

Final calculations can be done only after the World Cup and the spokesman promised "any discrepancies will be explained and offset" once data is released.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE