World Football 2026: Environmental credibility in question

The kick-off of the World 2026 was given on June 11, 2026 in the United States, Canada and Mexico. At the same time, there is another competition in the media: FIFA's environmental credibility

According to a study by the New Weather Institute, the 2026 edition is expected to generate about 9 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent, almost double the average of the previous four editions (4.7 Mt CO2e). The main causes of this are the expansion to 48 teams, 16 host cities spread over three countries and sometimes more than 4,000 km between certain stadiums. The movement of supporters alone represents 87% of the estimated total footprint.

A climate strategy facing a major challenge

In response to these projections, FIFA has deployed a sustainable development strategy: energy efficiency of stadiums, waste management, logistics « Green ». However, several observers pointed to the lack of a global carbon target for the tournament as well as the limited focus on spectator travel in the commitments communicated. FIFA had already presented World 2022 in Qatar as an event « neutral carbon »a statement which has since been challenged by several environmental experts and organisations. In 2024, it signed a partnership with Aramco, one of the world's largest hydrocarbon producers, responsible for about 4% of global CO2 emissions.

The result is a structural gap between the commitments displayed and the actual decisions: choice of format, location of host cities, selection of business partners. This situation highlights the difficulty of aligning high environmental ambitions with certain strategic and operational decisions.

This lag is not a sporting exception. Many companies have strong CSR ambitions without having put in place the methods to ensure that their daily decisions are truly aligned. Increasingly, customers and order-holders demand transparency, traceability and concrete evidence. A too visible gap between communication and reality can be costly, in lost contracts, in damaged reputation.

Do your CSR commitments rely on sufficient evidence to convince your customers and partners?

What ACTE International recommends:

• Align your environmental commitments with your concrete decisions: choice of suppliers, partners, modes of transport
• Measuring your carbon footprint throughout your value chain (scopes 1, 2 and 3), not just your direct operations
• Document your CSR actions so that they can be presented in a tender or a client audit
• Identify inconsistencies between your goals and your actual practices before your clients do so

You want to know what your customers are looking for? Contact our expert for a focused exchange on your sector: Make an appointment.

• New Weather Institute, Global 2026 Carbon Footprint Study, 2025–2026
• Euronews, « The dark side of the 2026 World Cup »June 2026
• France 24, « With the World 2026, a gigantism at the price of climate »June 2026
• The Press, « World Cup 2026: Demeasure at the expense of climate », 2026