by Paula Cunha

Many of us know how climate changes affect sports: rain, floods, lighting, heat. But how does football affect the environment?

But how climate changes affect sports: rain, floods, lighting, heat. But how does football affect the environment? The main cause of climate changes is carbon emission resulting from human activity, especially the burning fossil fuels (non-renewable energy sources such as coal, oil, and natural gas) which are used to power industries, cars and power plants. Okay, but how is football a carbon emitter? Brazil’s most popular sport plays a significant role in carbon emissions and depends on good weather conditions for matches to take place. Remember the Supercopa Rei final in Belém, between Flamengo and Botafogo, in February this year? Flamengo was leading 1-0 when the match had to be stopped 15 minutes into the game because a heavy storm flooded the pitch. Play resumed more than an hour later. And what about the FIFA Club World Cup that took place this year in the United States? Several matches were halted due to weather alerts, and people had to seek shelter in covered areas because of lighting risks. 

According to Greensavers, ‘the pollutant emissions from the global football industry are equivalent to almost 150 million barrels of oil’. The main sources of pollution in the sport come from air and road travel by players, teams, and even fans for national and international matches. If it’s a private flight, the carbon footprint is even worse. A large amount of fuel is burned in this process, and the more carbon dioxide that is produced, the more heat is trapped in the Earth’s atmosphere, increasing global warming. Ever thought about this: ‘Who wouldn’t want to have a club president who buys a plane and pays all the travel expenses for the team?

The construction of new stadiums and training centers also consumes large amounts of resources and energy, in addition to the expenses on match days. Maintaining these stadiums requires a great deal of energy (for lighting, heating and cooling). Large volumes of water are used to irrigate and preserve the fields. Football matches generate huge amounts of waste, especially solid waste from single-use plastic materials such as bottled water and food packaging. Do you know what the main raw material for plastic is? Oil. On top of that, there is the frantic production of sports merchandise: balls and jerseys are often made from synthetic materials produced in factories, increasing the damage to the ecosystem. Later, many of these products, such as the various uniform models created, are discarded and end up in landfills and in the ocean. 

Large-scale championships, such as the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the Women’s World Cup, which will be held in Brazil in 2027, are extremely aggressive contributors, as they involve all types of pollutants in high quantities and within a short period of time. Notice how the situation becomes even more complex when you are faced with the sponsorship of major companies or governments that produce oil and fossil fuels among the biggest clubs in Europe.

Brazil is the country of football and the host of COP30, yet it still shows little willingness to address the environmental impacts caused by the sport. Despite a few agendas on the topic, there were no panels organized by public authorities to debate possible measures, and the theme of football and the environment appears only minimally in official programs. Football is the biggest sport in the world: the most played, the most watched, the one that generates the most money, and it all takes place on top of a green carpet, the pitch. To continue, and to survive, it needs to become even greener.