Abu Dhabi, UAE
CNN
—
The chief govt of Qatar Airways has defended a plan to function greater than 160 further flights to shuttle spectators from the area to Doha and again every day, for what has been marketed as the primary “carbon neutral” FIFA World Cup.
Qatar Airways introduced on Thursday it had partnered with regional carriers to permit World Cup ticket holders to fly into Doha and again from neighboring nations only for the day. Climate advocates say the choice flies within the face of the event’s sustainability targets.
“Please don’t believe people saying only negative [things],” Akbar Al Baker advised CNN’s Becky Anderson in an interview on Monday, including that he was assured the flights can be full.
“[We] have airplanes which have very low emissions compared to the normal aircraft most of the other airlines fly,” together with long-haul flights, he stated.
He didn’t elaborate on how the planes’ emissions can be decrease than others, however the airline’s web site says it makes use of “one of the youngest fleets in the sky” and has applied 70 gasoline optimization applications. Aviation is a significant contributor to human-caused local weather change. Qatar’s financial system is oil-based and has one of many largest per capita carbon footprints on the earth.
Before Thursday’s announcement, organizers had estimated a carbon footprint for the event of greater than 3.6 million metric tons of CO2, greater than half of which is able to come from touring supporters. The emissions from the brand new day by day flights – from Dubai, Muscat, Riyadh, Jeddah and Kuwait – will add to the present estimate.
In response to questions from CNN, FIFA stated its earlier carbon footprint estimate was revealed in February 2021 and that precise variations can be addressed as soon as the event has concluded.
Qatar has stated it can offset the emissions by “investing in green projects” – a typical approach for firms and other people to cancel the affect of their footprint. Organizers have established a “Global Carbon Council” tasked with “identifying quality projects.”
Climate specialists, nonetheless, have highlighted the restrictions of offsetting applications, equivalent to tree planting, arguing that they’re overused and their affect typically overstated, to permit for business-as-usual emissions from burning fossil fuels.
Carbon Market Watch revealed a report Tuesday that stated the World Cup’s carbon credit score plan supported tasks with a “low level of environmental integrity” and had to this point issued solely 130,000 credit of the pledged 1.8 million. The World Cup is because of begin in late November.
The Carbon Market Watch report additionally claims FIFA’s estimated carbon emissions for the event have been grossly underestimated, criticizing “the choice of accounting approach.”
Commenting on the report, Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, which is accountable for the occasion, stated it was “speculative and inaccurate to draw conclusions” on its dedication to carbon neutrality.
“The methodology used to calculate the carbon-neutral commitment is best in practice and was designed to be based on actual activity data, after the FIFA World Cup has concluded,” it stated in a press release despatched in response to CNN’s questions. “This will be published, and any discrepancies will be explained and offset.”
FIFA additionally responded to the report and defended its personal accounting methodology, saying it was primarily based on the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, a broadly used customary.
It added it had not “misled its stakeholders” and was “fully aware of the risks that mega-events pose on the economy, the natural environment and on people and communities.”
In a September press launch, the Qatari organizers of the occasion stated one of many benefits of internet hosting the World Cup was “the compact nature” of their nation. The quick distance between stadiums would negate the necessity for home air journey by followers and cut back the carbon footprint of the event. It went on to say air journey is “recognized as one of the world’s largest sources of carbon emissions.”
But there have been rising issues that the small nation of lower than 3 million folks might not have the ability to deal with so many followers. Flying spectators out and in in a day would alleviate the necessity for larger ranges of lodging.
Al Baker, nonetheless, stated it was all the time the plan to run the additional flights to shuttle folks in only for the day.
“His Highness the Emir always wanted to share the benefit of this tournament with all of our neighbors,” he stated.
“It is feasible because, first and foremost, we have good state-of-the-art facilities. They process people very quickly. We have also brought in massive transportation facilities including the metro,” Al Baker stated.