The world football association FIFA has advertised a climate-neutral World Cup. There was now a reprimand in Switzerland for this.
The world football association FIFA falsely advertised that the 2022 World Cup in Qatar was climate-neutral. This is the conclusion of the Swiss Integrity Commission (SLK). She approved five complaints from Switzerland, France, Belgium, Great Britain and the Netherlands, as she reported.
The SLK is a self-regulatory body for the communications industry. It adheres to the requirements of the Marketing and Advertising Code of the International Chamber of Commerce ICC. It can make recommendations, but not impose judgments. The decision is not final, she said.
FIFA have it “gives a false and misleading impression”The Commission complained that the World Cup in Qatar was already climate and CO2-neutral before and during the tournament. “The SLK comes to the conclusion that it cannot be claimed that sustainability goals have been achieved as long as there are no definitive and generally accepted methods for measuring sustainability or for ensuring their implementation.”
FIFA wanted to compensate CO2
FIFA estimated the expected emissions before the tournament at 3.63 million tons of CO2. The Swiss Climate Alliance, among others, found this too low because the shuttle flights required during the World Cup were not taken into account. According to SLK, FIFA announced that this amount of CO2 had already been offset. But you could not prove this. FIFA also promised to offset the actual emissions if they were higher. However, she did not present a concept for this. “It also remained unclear whether the compensation measures correspond to Swiss standards. These require, among other things, a complete and permanent removal of CO2 from the atmosphere.”according to the SLK.
“The SLK recommends that FIFA refrain from making the offending statements in the future. In particular, that the 2022 World Cup in Qatar will be climate or CO2 neutral,” said the Commission.
FIFA is aware that climate change is one of the most pressing challenges, FIFA said on request. She makes every effort to keep the impact of major events on the environment and people as small as possible. She will examine the Commission’s arguments for her recommendation and possibly appeal.