FIFA has said it will spend $20 million to make the 2014 World Cup in Brazil the first with a comprehensive sustainability strategy.
It will include “green” stadiums, waste management, community support, reducing and offsetting carbon emissions, renewable energy, climate change and capacity development, according to FIFA and the Local Organizing Committee (LOC), which will develop the sustainability strategy over the next two years.
FIFA’s access to the Brazilian Development Bank’s line of credit — FIFA’s funding source for World Cup stadiums — is conditional on a sustainable construction certification standard, Luis Fernandes, executive secretary of the Brazilian Ministry of Sport, said.
FIFA says the strategy will build on environmental programs at FIFA tournaments since 2005, international standards such as ISO 26000 and the Global Reporting Initiative, and on the Brazilian government’s development policies.
The 2010 World Cup in South Africa featured the Nelson Mandela Stadium, designed and built using sustainable materials such as fiberglass and reinforced concrete. The stadium itself was powered entirely by a nearby wind farm. Still, the 2010 World Cup’s total carbon footprint came to 2,753,250 tons of CO2 equivalent, according to a recent study by Ernst & Young, an eight-fold increase over the previous World Cup in Germany.
For 2014, FIFA and the LOC will also jointly produce a comprehensive sustainability report in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative.
Social and environmental chapters were compulsory elements in the bidding process for the FIFA World Cups in Russia (2018) and Qatar (2022). As a result of the voluntary initiatives in the FIFA World Cup stadiums in Brazil, green building certification will be mandatory for all FIFA World Cup stadiums in Russia and Qatar.