‘Green card for the planet’? Fifa’s World Cup is on pace to be a climate catastrophe

<p>The 2022 World Cup failed to deliver on its environmental promises. From air travel emissions to heat-related dangers, the 2026 edition will be even worse</p><p>Soccer fans are increasingly watching preparations for the 2026 World Cup through their fingers. The most popular sporting event on the planet is awash in controversy, whether it’s the eye-watering <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/may/11/world-cup-2026-ticket-prices-fifa-sport-politics">ticket prices</a>, the question of Iran’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/apr/24/iran-welcome-at-us-world-cup-2026-italy">participation</a> while the president of one of the host countries <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/05/us/politics/trump-iran-war-crimes-truth-social.html?searchResultPosition=1">threatens</a> war crimes against it, or the role that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/feb/10/ice-director-testimony-world-cup-2026-operations">may</a> or <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7260086/2026/05/07/world-cup-ice-rubio-stadium-trump-fifa/?searchResultPosition=1">may not</a> play in policing the event. And yet, lost in the political pyrotechnics is a fiasco that carries as much long-term peril as any: the tournament’s staggering contribution to runaway climate change.</p><p>The 2026 World Cup is not only the most politically combustible tournament in modern history, but it is also on track to be the “<a href="https://www.newweather.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/FIFAs_climate_blind_spot.pdf">most polluting</a>” World Cup ever, with total greenhouse gas emissions hitting nearly two times the historical average. Scientists conservatively project that the tournament will generate around 9m tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. Air travel <a href="http