Qatar’s “voluntary environmental commitment” will set a new precedent both locally and internationally in terms of staging future sporting events, an official of the Gulf Organisation for Research & Development (GORD) has said.
“In the history of FIFA, Qatar 2022 will be the first carbon-neutral World Cup. With a sustainability advisory from GORD, the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) has taken several measures to cut down the tournament’s GHG emissions while also utilising carbon offsetting services for the unavoidable emissions.
“Within Qatar, we are seeing heightened interest from organizers approaching the Global Carbon Council (GCC) to explore the mechanisms behind events’ carbon neutrality,” GORD founding chairman Dr Yousef al-Horr told Gulf Times in an interview.
Dr al-Horr stressed that the 2022 FIFA World Cup will be a “first of its kind", thus setting a global benchmark for the staging of future World Cups and other tournaments worldwide.