World Cup Teams Offset Their Carbon Emissions
The World Cup has kicked off in Johanesburg, South Africa, with 32 teams visiting from around the world to play for national pride and the championship of the world’s most popular sport. All that travel will bring nations together for one of the greatest tournaments on Earth, and will create literally millions of tons of carbon emissions- a projected 2.7 million tons in total. More than half of the participating teams have joined with Swiss carbon offset company South Pole, the United Nations Environment Programme and the South African ministry of environment to offset the emissions they generate through travel and lodging.
“The fact that the national teams from around the globe and our company can prove our common responsibility for the global climate amazes me especially in this UN initiative. I wish Ottmar Hitzfeild and the Swiss team that they have a bigger impact on the soccer field than our climate.” – South Pole Partner Renat Heuberger
Teams will generate an average of 6,000 tons of carbon emissions through travel and during their stay at the tournament, resulting in eight times the emissions that the World Cup 2006 created in Germany. The increase in emissions is primarily due to longer travel requirements for teams and the relative inefficiency of the South African power grid. Still, it’s exciting to see that where the Copenhagen summit failed to bring nations together, the World Cup is generating more enthusiastic awareness and action.
South Pole offer five different emissions-reduction projects, including a waste management project near Cape Town that ensures that organic waste is properly composted.
The 18 participating countries are: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ivory Coast, England, Greece, Italy, Japan, Cameroon, New Zealand, The Netherlands, Nigeria, Serbia, South Korea, Switzerland, USA, Uruguay and South Africa, the host. PUMA, the sponsor of all of these teams, will pay the cost of the carbon offsetting. Go PUMA!
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