Part of the Qatar World Cup’s legacy was decided in a Zurich courtroom, six months after the tournament’s conclusion.
There, in a ruling from the country’s advertising regulator, world football’s governing body FIFA was found to be in breach of Swiss Federal Law on Unfair Competition.
Ahead of the men’s tournament the previous November and December, both FIFA and the host nation’s organising Supreme Committee For Delivery And Legacy had claimed they were staging the first carbon-neutral World Cup.
For a complex issue, carbon neutrality can be defined simply — ensuring there is no overall release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, generally by using carbon offsetting schemes.
Qatar claimed to have done this through emission-reducing infrastructure projects, as well as heavy investment in offsetting schemes, mirroring the approach of the Winter Olympics. Organisers also highlighted there would be no need for internal flights at Qatar 2022, due to the country’s size.
This was all greeted with scepticism by environmental campaigners. One group, Carbon Market Watch, claimed emissions associated with tournament-related construction had been underestimated eightfold, and also questioned the integrity of the chosen carbon credits.
The Swiss regulator found those…
