KBR: Saudi 2034 World Cup Will Raise Sustainability Bar
The Qatar FIFA World Cup in 2022 broke records with 5 billion television viewers and 1.2 million in-person attendees from around the globe.
As the first World Cup planned after the Paris Agreement took effect, environmental considerations featured prominently in the event’s design, yielding notable achievements.
Tackling carbon emissions
Football’s worldwide popularity comes with substantial environmental consequences. The sport generates more than 30 million tons of carbon dioxide annually – comparable to Denmark’s national emissions.
While spectator travel accounts for approximately half of this total, energy consumption in stadiums and construction of facilities also contribute significantly, with major tournaments driving much of this activity.
Modern stadiums incorporate features that minimise environmental impact, including energy-efficient lighting systems, sustainable building materials, renewable power sources, water conservation measures and improved waste management systems.
Many clubs have installed solar arrays and wind turbines at their facilities. The Amsterdam ArenA features both technologies, with one of the world’s largest solar rooftops and an on-site wind farm reducing its carbon footprint.
Increasingly, clubs are adopting artificial playing surfaces for their venues and practice facilities, particularly in the Baltic and Scandinavian regions where harsh weather conditions are a challenge.
Though prohibited in some top European professional leagues, synthetic fields are widespread at other competitive levels. These surfaces offer year-round usability with lower maintenance requirements than natural grass, which demands watering, mowing, pesticide application and sometimes artificial lighting.
Multiple clubs have implemented initiatives reducing transportation emissions, including bicycle-sharing programmes and electric vehicle charging stations.
Organisations have explored electric bus adoption for team travel while encouraging public transportation use among fans. Belgian football club Union Saint-Gilloise has distinguished itself by committing to sustainable aviation fuel for all international team flights.
The climate strategy
At COP26 in Glasgow, FIFA’s President accentuated the industry’s determination to play a part in climate change, launching FIFA’s Climate Strategy which pledges to halve emissions by 2030 and achieve net zero by 2040.
This pledge underlines the sport’s potential to become a positive influence and the World Cup is a very powerful event in this regard.
Large-scale construction projects, such as stadiums, are major contributors to global carbon emissions due to the vast number of materials and energy required.
The construction projects for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar helped establish new standards for sustainability in sporting infrastructure. All stadiums achieved Global Sustainability Assessment System (GSAS) certifications for design, construction and operations.
The Khalifa International Stadium utilised a combination of low-carbon concrete and recycled materials, effectively minimising its environmental footprint. Although it comes with a significant price premium, low carbon concrete can save 80% of CO2 emissions as it uses waste from industrial processes.
However, the Ras Abu Aboud Stadium, also known as Stadium 974, stood out as the tournament’s symbol of sustainable innovation.
Built using around 1,000 recycled shipping containers and modular components, the whole arena could be dismantled after the tournament and its materials be repurposed for other projects.
This approach helps reduce construction waste and overall resource use, but perhaps most importantly, sets new standards in temporary infrastructure.
Going beyond the construction, Qatar’s first large-scale renewable energy project, the Al Kharsaah power plant, provided up to 10% of the country’s electricity needs during the tournament, while additional solar-powered systems were installed at stadium precincts and training sites to support lighting and cooling requirements.
There are more remarkable examples of low-carbon design that have been adopted in the football world and beyond.
Completed in 2017, the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta is recognised as a leader in sustainability. Its 4,000 solar panels generate around 20% of its total consumption, while its energy needs are minimised by smart design that maximises natural light and ventilation.
The venue has reduced water use by 50% compared to a typical modern stadium. This has been achieved through water-efficient fixtures like high-efficiency toilets, drought-resistant landscaping and water-efficient heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.
The Tottenham Hotspur stadium in London opened in 2019 and is powered by 100% renewable energy. The venue features an advanced building management system which optimises energy usage by regulating lighting, heating and ventilation based on real-time occupancy and external weather conditions.
Saudi Arabia 2034
As the world’s most visible construction projects, building the infrastructure for a World Cup is an equally powerful opportunity to demonstrate new, sustainable and forward-thinking construction techniques that can have a long-lasting impact for the environment.
The 2034 FIFA World Cup in Saudi Arabia can offer a unique opportunity to set milestones in sustainability at a wider scale, in terms of the infrastructure construction project and the tournament’s energy use, due to its already ambitious scope.
Its bold plans include constructing 11 new stadiums and refurbishing four existing ones, alongside the development of supporting infrastructure such as airports, hotels and transport networks.
Unlike Qatar, Saudi Arabia’s World Cup will be hosted across five cities: Riyadh, Jeddah, Al Khobar, Abha and NEOM.
One very interesting factor will be how the carbon footprint of the tournament is measured and whether new benchmarks are set in the methodology used to calculate emissions and publish them.
Especially in large-scale events like tournaments, there is an increasing demand for transparency and accuracy in how carbon emissions are tracked.
The use of more sophisticated tools for real-time tracking of carbon emissions can give a better picture of tournaments’ environmental impact as it can provide a more detailed breakdown of emissions by source.
The World Cup of opportunity
While the FIFA World Cup represents a small fraction of the world's football community — given that most activity occurs at the club level — its high visibility is crucial for football's broader carbon reduction strategy.
With new infrastructure central to mega projects such as the Saudi Arabia World Cup 2034, the construction industry can leverage this opportunity to pioneer new sustainability standards.
The focus on renewable materials, low-carbon design and optimised energy use cannot only minimise the environmental impact of the tournament but also set a precedent for future infrastructure projects worldwide.
Saudi Arabia can demonstrate its commitment to environmental responsibility and drive innovation in the construction industry, as well as carbon accounting and emissions reporting, leaving a lasting legacy of sustainability in sports and beyond.
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