The recent complaint against FIFA was filed by Climate Alliance Switzerland, accusing the football governing body of greenwashing, a term used to describe marketing methods that fool the public with an environmentally friendly image without having a sufficient basis for doing so.
Swedish climate activists have filed a complaint to the Swiss Integrity Commission against FIFA’s “possible unfair greenwashing promises.”
The investigation will determine whether or not the football governing body has marketed the World Cup in Qatar as “too environmentally friendly,” Swedish media reported on Sunday.
This follows similar advertising complaints that have been filed across several European countries over FIFA’s alleged promotion of its carbon neutrality claims, while several footballers have sent an open letter to FIFA asking it to “ditch” the claim and only use offsets as a last resort.
Before the beginning of the tournament, FIFA said the Qatar World Cup will have a footprint of 3.6 million tonnes of equivalent carbon waste, which will be offset by a number of initiatives, making this a “carbon neutral” tournament.
But climate activists and scientists have argued that FIFA’s claim of a carbon-neutral World Cup is false due to underestimation of emissions and a lack of credibility in its offsets.
“We did a little digging into FIFA’s carbon footprint estimate and we think it’s way over 10 million tonnes – so three times that, at least,” Mike Berners-Lee of Lancaster University told the BBC in November.
“‘Carbon neutral’ is a dodgy term. The offset scheme the World Cup has chosen doesn’t remove carbon from the atmosphere, so it’s a bogus term. It’s very misleading to call this a carbon-neutral World Cup. They’re not even removing carbon to compensate,” he added.
Berners-Lee added that FIFA has “hideously underestimated” its carbon footprint, and that it “doesn’t really work to claim you haven’t had a carbon impact.”
One research analysis conducted before the World Cup found that the carbon footprint attributed to World Cup stadiums was eight times higher and that the tournament could end up with a carbon footprint three times higher than it claims, BBC reported in November.
The recent complaint by Climate Alliance Switzerland is currently pending at the Swiss Integrity Commission and it could take months before a decision is made, Marc Schwenninger, executive director of the Foundation for Integrity in Commercial Communications, told the Keystone-SDA news agency on Sunday.
In November, climate activists in France filed similar complaints, criticising the methodology used to calculate the World Cup’s carbon neutrality, in particular the attribution of emissions from the construction of eight new stadiums and offsets.
“Who can honestly believe that the construction of air-conditioned stadiums in the middle of a desert can be carbon neutral?” said The French Association Notre Affaire A Tous’s executive officer, Jeremie Suissa.
“Football fans should be able to enjoy their sport without being taken hostage by FIFA’s drastic choices,” he added.
Simultaneously, footballers published an open letter calling on FIFA to abandon claims that Qatar 2022 is carbon neutral, to focus on reducing CO2 emissions, and to use offsets only as a last resort.
The letter was signed by footballers including Norwegian international Morten Thorsby, Tessel Middag of Rangers WFC, Elin Landstrom of AS Roma Women, Wycombe Wanderers midfielder David Wheeler and others.
However, FIFA has consistently claimed that flights and travel account for 51.7% of the 3.6 million tonnes of equivalent carbon produced for the Qatar World Cup, for which it has pledged to offset every ticketholder’s flight emissions, among other initiatives such as electric mobility for public transportation around the tournament.
“FIFA is fully aware that climate change is one of the most pressing challenges of our time and believes it requires each of us to take immediate and sustainable climate action,” FIFA responded in a statement following November complaints.
“For the very first time, FIFA and the host country Qatar have pledged to deliver a fully carbon neutral World Cup. A comprehensive set of initiatives have been implemented to mitigate the tournament-related emissions, including energy-efficient stadiums and green-building certification of their design, construction and operations, low-emission transportation, and sustainable waste management practices.
“All remaining emissions will be offset through investing in internationally recognised and certified carbon credits. This is done on a voluntary basis, leading the way in the sports industry. More can be done and will be done, as FIFA has pledged through the UNFCCC Sports for Climate Action Framework and its own Climate Strategy to reach net-zero emissions by 2040.”
The football governing body is yet to comment on the recent Swiss Commission investigation.
