With an estimated 9 million tons of CO₂ generated, the 2026 World Cup calls into question FIFA's climate promises and ignites an urgent debate about the role of mega sporting events in the global environmental agenda.
Five billion people watch the World Cup. It's the most-watched event on the planet, capable of paralyzing countries, boosting economies, and dominating conversations for an entire month. All this grandeur, however, comes at a cost that rarely appears in live broadcasts: a carbon footprint capable of rivaling the annual emissions of entire countries.
The 2026 edition, co-hosted by the United States, Mexico, and Canada, promises to be the largest in history. With 48 teams competing in 16 cities across three countries, this year's World Cup is projected to generate between 7.8 and 9 million tons of CO₂ equivalent. For comparison, the 2024 Paris Olympic Games emitted approximately 1.75 million tons. The 2026 World Cup could be up to four times more impactful.
The main culprit is air transport. Approximately 87% of all projected emissions will come from flights, representing roughly 7.7 million tons of CO₂. The logic is simple: when matches take place in cities separated by thousands of kilometers, fans, delegations, journalists, and technical teams need to cross the continent repeatedly over the course of almost two months of the tournament. The expansion from 32 to 48 teams, a decision made by FIFA in 2016, means more matches, more travel, and inevitably, significantly more emissions.
The weight of promises
FIFA is not ignoring the issue. The Sustainability and Human Rights Strategy for the 2026 World Cup, published by the organization, foresees the priority use of existing stadiums, incentives for accommodations with sustainable practices, promotion of public transport in host cities, and a waste management campaign called "Gol por el Ambiente" (Goal for the Environment). These are real initiatives, but they do not address the main source of emissions: air travel.
There's a recurring pattern. In Qatar 2022, FIFA publicly committed to hosting the first carbon-neutral World Cup in history. The promise was widespread, and the reaction was positive. But the Swiss advertising regulator concluded in 2023 that the tournament's carbon-neutral claims were unfounded, in a decision considered historic as it was the first formal greenwashing ruling against a global sports organization. What was presented as genuine emissions offsetting was, in practice, an accounting that didn't add up.
For 2026, FIFA adopted a different stance by not setting an explicit carbon neutrality target. This avoids the risk of another greenwashing accusation, but also makes the organization's climate commitments less tangible and harder to enforce.
Structure against intention
The central problem lies not in a lack of declared will, but in a structural tension: the commercial logic that guides the tournament's expansion is incompatible with any serious trajectory of emissions reduction. More teams mean more games, more sponsors, more revenue. They also mean more carbon.
Organizations like Scientists for Global Responsibility point out that the current tournament model is, by definition, unsustainable from a climate perspective. The 2026 World Cup will generate almost double the average of the last four editions. Without structural changes to the event's format, sustainability initiatives operate on the margins of a system that will continue to grow in emissions.
This doesn't mean that these actions are irrelevant. Energy-efficient stadiums, a responsible supply chain, proper waste management, and integrated urban mobility are areas that build local capacity and leave concrete legacies for host cities. But treating them as a solution to the event's climate problem is a misconception that the market, investors, and civil society no longer readily accept.
What can mega-events teach us?
The World Cup, which begins today (June 11), is an amplified reflection of the challenges any organization faces when trying to reconcile growth and sustainability. The tension between expansion and climate responsibility that FIFA experiences on a global scale is the same one that many companies face in their own strategic planning processes.
What differentiates a genuine approach from a cosmetic one is the willingness to question the very assumptions of growth. In sports, as in the corporate sector, climate goals only gain credibility when they influence concrete business decisions.
About CEBDS
The Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development (CEBDS) is a non-profit civil association that has been promoting sustainable development in Brazil since 1997 through engagement with governments and civil society, as well as disseminating the most current concepts and practices on the subject. As the voice of the business sector, CEBDS brings together more than 110 of the largest business groups in the country and is the Brazilian representative of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), present in 36 countries with 200 member companies worldwide.
