প্রকাশ: 19/10/2022
Organisers have promised
a carbon neutral World Cup next month in Qatar but environmental groups are
warning that the tournament will be far more polluting than advertised.
Hassan al-Thawadi, secretary general of Qatar 2022, said
organisers will achieve net-zero emissions for the tournament as a whole
"by measuring, mitigating and offsetting all our greenhouse gas
emissions".
This promise has failed to convince sceptics, however.
Former Manchester United ace Eric Cantona recently slammed what he called an
"ecological aberration", pointing to the carbon footprint of what
will be eight air-conditioned stadiums.
Julien Jreissati, programme director of Greenpeace Middle
East, has accused organisers of "window dressing", insisting that
claims of net-zero emissions from the tournament "could be considered
greenwashing/sportswashing".
Gilles Dufrasne, a researcher for Carbon Market Watch and
author of a report into Qatar 2022's climate credentials, said that carbon
neutrality claims were "misleading and dishonest about the true climate
impact that the event will have."
Organisers of football's marquee event said it will generate
3.6 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent, compared with 2.1 million generated by
the previous edition, in Russia in 2018.
The vast majority of these emissions, some 95 percent, are
indirect from things like transport, infrastructure building and housing.
But Carbon Market Watch says that the hosts' estimate is
incomplete. It says that Qatar has underestimated the footprint of constructing
eight new stadiums, for example, by a factor of eight, generating 1.6 million
tonnes of CO2 instead of the 200,000 tonnes disclosed.
Some of this difference can be explained by methodology.
Qatar deems that most of the new stadiums will be used well after the
tournament is over, meaning that their environmental impact shouldn't be tied
specifically to one event.
Carbon Market Watch differs, pointing out that banking on
continued use of eight massive sporting venues in a country of just 2.4 million
inhabitants is risky.
'Huge error'
Stadium air conditioning in Qatar, contrary to popular
belief, is expected to only contribute a minimal amount to the tournament's
climate impact.
"It's relatively minimal compared to total emissions
from constructing stadiums or from air transport," said Dufrasne.
Given the vast amounts of infrastructure Qatar has had to
build in order to accommodate the world's largest sporting event, some experts
believe the tiny Gulf nation was destined to struggle to keep emissions down.
"The huge error was made in December 2010 at the moment
the World Cup wasn't awarded to a country that already had all the
infrastructure," said Giles Pache, a specialist in logistics at France's
Aix-Marseille University, referring to the United States, which missed out on
FIFA voting to Qatar.
"In Qatar we were starting with nothing, hosting a
global event built on sand," said Pache.
"The US was really well equipped" in terms of
stadiums and hotels, he said.
To achieve carbon neutrality, tournament organisers have
promised that emissions will be offset in the form of carbon credits. These, in
theory, balance out the emissions produced by saving emissions elsewhere in the
world.
With Qatar, organisers are working on renewable energy
projects in Turkey as part of this scheme.
Jreissati said these carbon credits constituted a
"distraction".
"They give the impression that a solution that doesn't necessitate
efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through ambitious political
decisions is possible," he said.
"We need to reduce emissions at source as soon as
possible."
For future tournaments Dufrasne said he hoped for a
"systemic reflection" in how World Cups are organised.
This could include extending the gaps between tournaments or
hosting global versions of the event.
"Hold matches across the world, playing in stadiums
that are closest to the two teams playing," he suggested.
– BSS/AFP
প্রধান সম্পাদকঃ সৈয়দ বোরহান কবীর
ক্রিয়েটিভ মিডিয়া লিমিটেডের অঙ্গ প্রতিষ্ঠান
বার্তা এবং বাণিজ্যিক কার্যালয়ঃ ২/৩ , ব্লক - ডি , লালমাটিয়া , ঢাকা -১২০৭
নিবন্ধিত ঠিকানাঃ বাড়ি# ৪৩ (লেভেল-৫) , রোড#১৬ নতুন (পুরাতন ২৭) , ধানমন্ডি , ঢাকা- ১২০৯
ফোনঃ +৮৮-০২৯১২৩৬৭৭