The Environmental Footprint of the FIFA World Cup

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is underway right now. Mexico, the United States, and Canada are hosting the tournament across 16 stadiums in 12 cities. Billions of people are watching. Millions are traveling to see it in person.

And like every major sporting event, it carries an environmental cost.

But here's what's interesting: we actually have detailed data on what that cost looks like. FIFA published a comprehensive Greenhouse Gas Accounting Report in 2024, a full accounting of the 2022 World Cup held in Qatar. It is an assessment of the mega-event, addressing the GHG emissions of the event itself and all the direct and indirect activities performed in preparation — from the moment Qatar was chosen as host (infrastructure upgrades and construction) to the event's execution (fan travel, accommodation, etc.) It reveals something important about where environmental impact actually comes from at these tournaments.

The number everyone cites: 3.81 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent (CO2e) over 12 years. (roughly equivalent to the annual emissions of a small country).

But that number hides a story.

Where Does That Footprint Actually Come From?

Of the 3.81 million tonnes, 98% comes from indirect sources. Not from FIFA directly building things or operating the tournament—but from everything that happens because of the tournament. Flights. Hotels. Construction by local contractors. Supply chains. Food and beverages.

Three categories dominate:

1. Travel: 59.1% of total emissions (2.25 million tonnes CO2e)
2. Accommodation: 14.1% of total emissions (0.53 million tonnes CO2e)
3. Infrastructure construction: 23.2% of total emissions (0.88 million tonnes CO2e)

Together, these three add up to almost 95% of the entire tournament's footprint.

Most analysis stops here. But the details matter—especially for understanding what 2026 might look like differently.

The Travel Story: It's Not the Players

When people think about the World Cup's carbon footprint, they often imagine private jets carrying teams around. It's a vivid image. It's also not the main driver.

Of all international travel emissions from the 2022 tournament, 96% came from flights. Here's the breakdown of flight emissions:

• General public traveling as fans: ~ 64% of the entire air travel emissions.
• Group Sales transportation: ~ 22% of the entire air travel emissions.
• Hospitality: ~ 8% of the entire air travel emissions.
• Tournament workforce: ~ 5% of the entire air travel emissions.
• The remaining 1% is spread across several smaller categories that aren't listed individually for brevity.

This is the single largest source of emissions across the entire event. Not construction. Not stadium operations. Not logistics. Fans flying in from around the world.

In absolute terms, this makes sense. The World Cup draws fans from everywhere. The 2022 tournament in Qatar attracted visitors from over 190 countries. When you multiply the number of fans (millions) by the average distance they traveled and the emissions intensity of international flights, you get a staggering number.

By comparison, the participating teams are relatively tiny. 32 teams, ~1,000 players and staff, traveling as a group. They're statistically invisible next to global fan travel.

The Infrastructure Story: Temporary vs. Permanent

Here's where lifecycle thinking becomes crucial.

Qatar 2022 built new infrastructure specifically for the tournament. Some of it was meant to last. Some of it wasn't.

Of the 0.82 million tonnes CO2e from infrastructure construction, about half came from a specific source: Stadium 974. This fully temporary stadium was designed and built for disassembly, with the goal of reusing its parts for other events. To this day, the stadium is still standing — but the report projects that its dismantling, along with all other temporary infrastructure, will contribute just 1% of total infrastructure impacts. Additional temporary seating added to existing stadiums contributed 22% of impacts.

Other temporary facilities — such as training sites, media centers, and other infrastructure built to accommodate tournament-time requirements — contributed 19% of impacts.

The remaining 8% came from the event's share of permanent stadium construction and venue operations, both permanent and temporary. But here's the thing: even permanent infrastructure carries an environmental cost. You have to account for the emissions of building or renovating it, then divide that by how many years it gets used.

If a stadium gets used intensively for 30 years after the World Cup, that cost per year is low. If it gets used sporadically or becomes a white elephant, that cost per year is high. From an LCA perspective, utilization matters as much as engineering.

2026: A Different Approach

The 2026 World Cup will look very different from Qatar 2022.

The tournament will be hosted across three massive countries: the United States, Canada, and Mexico. So apart from the impacts of fans flying in from around the world, transportation impacts will also include air and road travel between cities and countries to attend different games.

Additionally, there will be no new stadiums — permanent or temporary. The tournament will use 16 existing stadiums across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. These venues already host regular events — NFL games, soccer matches, concerts, and even conferences. They're not being built for the tournament. They're being repurposed for it.

Thirteen of the 16 host stadiums have LEED certification. Some have gone further: Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta holds both LEED Platinum and TRUE Platinum Zero Waste certifications. Stadiums like Mexico City's Estadio Banorte — which is making history as the first venue to host three FIFA World Cups (1970, 1986, and 2026) — have undergone deep renovations focused on energy efficiency and water conservation.

So What Is the Biggest Driver of 2026?

That's the question we're currently exploring.

If temporary infrastructure isn't being built, and teams' travel emissions are negligible, then the 2026 tournament's footprint is likely still dominated by one thing: fans flying from around the world and in between cities or countries to attend different games.

That's the number you can't engineer away. You can't make a flight less carbon-intensive by building a more efficient stadium. You can't reduce fan travel emissions by renovating existing venues instead of building new ones. The environmental cost of 2+ million people flying internationally is what it is.

But here's where it gets interesting:

Infrastructure and transportation are where 2026 can actually make a meaningful difference. And we're starting to see what those choices look like.

The World Cup's environmental footprint isn't predetermined. It's shaped by choices about what gets built, how it gets used, and how people travel to and within the cities hosting it.

Understanding Impact at Scale

The World Cup is a lens for understanding something larger: how do you measure environmental impact when systems are complex, interconnected, and involve millions of decisions made by different actors?

This is what Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) does. It doesn't just count carbon. It traces impacts across entire systems—from where materials come from, to how they're used, to what happens when they're no longer needed. It reveals hidden drivers (like fan travel, not team flights). It shows trade-offs (like temporary infrastructure costs on both ends—building and demounting). And it helps organizations understand where investments in sustainability actually matter.

Whether you're planning a mega-event, managing a global supply chain, or trying to understand the true environmental cost of your operations, the same questions apply:

• What are you actually measuring?
• Where do impacts really come from?
• What changes matter most?
• How do you make decisions based on data, not assumptions?

If you're working to understand your environmental footprint—whether it's for a specific project, your entire supply chain, or a strategic sustainability initiative—EarthShift Global specializes in turning complex data into clarity and impact.

Book a free 30-minute consultation to explore how LCA can help you understand what matters most in your business.