FIFA's Biggest-Ever World Cup Is Also Its Most Polluting: Studies
Multiple environmental research groups have labeled the 2026 FIFA World Cup as the most polluting in history due to its massive carbon footprint. Despite FIFA's net-zero pledges, the expansion to 48 teams has necessitated extensive air travel and increased emissions.
Why it matters
This highlights the growing tension between large-scale global sporting events and international climate change mitigation goals.
Just a few hours remain before the big one. Argentina will face arch-rivals Spain in the final of the FIFA World Cup at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. As players lace up their boots and prepare to take to the turf, sports fans are watching every move closely. However, a set of studies conducted by Scientists for Global Responsibility (SGR), the New Weather Institute (NWI), the Environmental Defence Fund (EDF), and Cool Down: The Sport for Climate Action Network are now pointing to the ecological toll the tournament has taken. These studies have led the groups behind them to brand the FIFA 2026 World Cup the "most polluting ever."Long before the tournament began, FIFA had made big promises of its own. Under its official targets, FIFA pledged to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and reach net-zero by 2040.
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