A Swiss advertising regulator said Wednesday that FIFA had falsely declared that last year’s World Cup in Qatar would be carbon-neutral.
In its decision, the Swiss Equities Commission, after complaints from five countries, acknowledged that FIFA “was unable to verify whether the statements were true”.
The committee commented that it “advised FIFA to refrain from making unsubstantiated allegations in the future. In particular, allegations that the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 will be carbon-neutral.”
Football’s governing body said in a statement that it would review the recommendation and have the right to appeal. The decision is not legally binding.
Qatar has spent more than $200 billion on a 10-year construction program of air-conditioned projects to host the soccer tournament in the gas-rich emirate. It relied on the labor of hundreds of thousands of immigrants, who worked in precarious conditions.
Seven of the eight stadiums – including one with a shipping container front that was later dismantled – are built on the outskirts of Doha. They also built a new city, Lusail, which included the stadium that hosted the World Cup Final.
Environmental groups from Belgium, the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands and Switzerland have lodged complaints with Switzerland’s advertising regulator, claiming that FIFA guarantees the tournament will be carbon-neutral.
The committee, which is located in Zurich, the same host city as FIFA, assessed claims that 3.63 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from the tournament was offset.
The organization said FIFA had not tested this and “has not made any plans to determine how it offsets emissions”.
The 2026 World Cup will be held in 16 cities in the United States, Mexico and Canada and will include 48 teams instead of 32. There will be 104 matches instead of 64, although all stadiums are already there.
Qatar will host the Asian Cup next year, where 24 teams will play between January 12 and February 10 in eight stadiums, including six World Cup teams.
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