Various environmental groups were proven right by the Swiss advertising watchdog on Tuesday. He ruled that FIFA should never label the World Cup in Qatar as ‘climate neutral’.
That’s wrong, the watchdog believes, because it’s unclear whether the climate impact of competition can be reversed. FIFA shall refrain from publishing such claims in the future unless it is able, at the time of communication, to provide full justification for its calculation based on generally accepted methods.
In the ruling, the Swiss advertising watchdog said “FIFA gave the false and misleading impression that the World Cup in Qatar had already achieved climate neutrality before and after the World Cup”. They also said FIFA “did not provide credible evidence on how it could offset all of the tournament’s CO2 emissions in line with Swiss standards.”
“It’s a very important decision,” replied Frank Huisingh of Fossil Free Football, a group of concerned football fans who want to remove climate-damaging issues from football and make football fossil-free. A serious climate policy should be developed.
The case against FIFA was brought by Dutch Fossil Free Football and Advertising Fossil Free. Groups from Belgium, France, the United Kingdom and Switzerland also took action.
