FILE – A detailed model of Riyadh’s proposed sports infrastructure is on display at the Saudi Arabia World Cup bid exhibition in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Dec. 11, 2024. The exhibition highlights the Kingdom’s plans for hosting the 2034 World Cup. (AP Photo/Baraa Anwer, File)
As the newly-named host of the 2034 World Cup in men’s soccer, Saudi Arabia says it will construct or renovate 15 stadiums, create a futuristic city and expand airports in a massive buildout to accommodate millions of athletes, coaches and spectators.
That will emit tons of planet-warming greenhouse gases as concrete and steel are manufactured and transported, diesel-powered excavators and trucks are used and new buildings are powered and cooled. When all the emissions associated with the world’s buildings are grouped together, they are the largest contributor to climate change.
Recommended Videos
Constructing so many new venues is “environmentally wasteful in the extreme” because so much carbon will be emitted and scarce resources used, said Andrew Zimbalist, an economics professor at Smith College in Massachusetts who has written several books about the economics of mega sporting events. Zimbalist said the World Cup should be held in countries with a developed soccer culture and industry.
Seth Warren Rose, founding director of the research organization Eneref Institute, said the world will be even hotter a decade from now, and can’t afford this added warming.
“I’m sorry, but we’re living in a different planet. We have to prepare for that,” Rose said. “By 2034, we’ll be living in a different climate and that’s not a metaphor.