Africa's first football World Cup will generate 2.75m tonnes of carbon emissions, one of the biggest environmental impacts of any sporting event in history, a study has found.
The finals in South Africa next year are expected to have a carbon footprint eight times that of the 2006 World Cup in Germany, even before long-haul international travel is taken into account.
The main reasons for the discrepancy are the vast distances between South Africa's host cities and the lack of a green transport infrastructure.
The estimated output from South Africa is 896,661 tonnes of carbon dioxide, according to the optimistically entitled Feasibility Study for a Carbon Neutral 2010 Fifa World Cup, commissioned jointly by the South African and Norwegian governments. Another 1,856,589 tonnes will result from fans travelling from around the world, making the World Cup's footprint the biggest of any major event aiming to be "climate neutral", the report said.
Football to footprints: World Cup's carbon impact | Environment | The Guardian
