Keywords

4.1 Introduction

The FIFA World Cup, an international football competition for national men’s teams, is arguably the biggest and most exciting sporting event in the world. It is held every four years in different locations with the winner crowned the world champion of football. Over 3 billion people watched the FIFA World Cup live in 2018, either on TV, via online platforms, or in stadiums (FIFA World Cup Russia, 2018). This event has an enormous global reach.

In 2009, the State of Qatar set out on a journey bidding for the hosting rights of the FIFA World Cup. The hosting concept presented was a compact tournament with nearly all facilities in the capital city of Doha and remaining tournament sites within 50 km. The bid included world-class facilities, such as new hotels and stadiums. Environmental sustainability was a cross-cutting theme running through the bid, with the promise of stadiums certified to green building standards and a fully carbon neutral hosting of the event itself. In fact, the bid saw the design and construction of a 500-seat showcase stadium with the purpose of demonstrating that it is possible to provide a comfortable outdoor football stadium environment in the middle of summer powered by renewable energy. This showcase stadium is located with the Al Thumama Stadium precinct.

On the 2nd December 2010, Qatar was announced as the host for the 22nd edition of the FIFA World Cup to be held in the year 2022. The then bid committee was converted to a delivery committee, which eventually evolved into the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC) with a mission to:

To share Qatar’s unique identity with the world through amazing FIFA World Cup™ experiences that will connect people like never before. We celebrate football and our region, build intercultural understanding and develop opportunities. Hosting the tournament advances Qatar’s ongoing mission for a sustainable future and a lasting legacy for our country, the Middle East, Asia and the world (FIFA World Cup Qatar, 2022d, para. 1).

Although one of the main tasks for the SC was ensuring the delivery of all preparations required for hosting the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, there was always a focus and an emphasis on the sustainable legacy of the tournament and how it could catalyse positive change across the country and the region. While the SC was the coordinating Committee in Qatar, numerous, if not all, other government, semi-government, and private sector entities in Qatar played major roles in delivering the FIFA World Cup preparations. This chapter focuses on the role that the FIFA World Cup has played in Qatar as a catalyst for environmental sustainability, in the lead up to the event as well as its legacy afterward.

4.2 Setting the Direction

Qatar made bold sustainability commitments in the bid using the Qatar National Vision 2030 (QNV 2030), published in 2008, as a guiding document (see Chap. 2). The QNV 2030 is setting the direction for the country’s development and is in many ways a blueprint for sustainable development. With 2022 as an approximate mid-point for the QNV 2030, the FIFA World Cup is the perfect milestone to expedite and catalyse sustainable development and major sustainability-oriented projects.

In parallel to the ambitions of the State of Qatar, FIFA was also increasing their environmental ambitions for their flagship event, the FIFA World Cup. FIFA’s sustainability plans, strategies, and reports became increasingly sophisticated for the Germany 2006, South Africa 2010, Brazil 2014, and Russia 2018 editions of the event. The Olympic Games had also continuously increased their environmental ambitions, with a starting point at the 1994 Lillehammer winter Olympics, via Sydney 2000, and the groundbreaking London 2012 games. Talavera et al. (2019) provide a comprehensive historical timeline of sustainability and sports mega-events, demonstrating an increasing emphasis on the topic over time across all aspects of mega-events.

Qatar and FIFA formed a joint venture, the FIFA World Cup Qatar, 2022 LLC (Q22), which also held high sustainability ambitions. This was demonstrated by appointing a Sustainability Manager as one of their first new positions. FIFA, the SC, and Q22 quickly formed a strong sustainability partnership and formalized both working and steering committees that held regular meetings throughout the event preparations. This resulted in a historic decision, where the FIFA World Cup Sustainability Strategy would be a joint strategy between FIFA and the host country for the first time. The strategy was jointly developed, and it was agreed it would also be jointly delivered. The strategy was developed using a comprehensive process with extensive consultation, involving over 100 stakeholders through surveys, focus groups, and interviews (FIFA World Cup Qatar, 2022a). The development process can be summarized in three steps: (1) thorough analysis of context and existing strategies and requirements, (2) identification of strategic priorities through a materiality assessment and a human rights salience analysis, with both results eventually combined through an innovative process, and (3) definition of objectives, initiatives, and action plans. The document was an internal working document for some time before it was published in January 2020.

The publication of the strategy was complemented with a detailed document describing the development process (FIFA World Cup Qatar, 2022a). The intention of this document was to communicate the process used to stakeholders, but also to contribute to the growing body of knowledge around sustainability strategy development for major sporting events. The strategy covers all three phases of tournament delivery—the preparation, staging, and post-tournament activities—from the time the strategy was developed to the completion of post-tournament activities in 2023, when all temporary structures will have been dismantled and the final tournament sustainability report published.

The FIFA World Cup 2022 Sustainability Strategy covers five pillars, has 22 objectives and over 70 different initiatives designed to deliver the objective of the strategy (FIFA World Cup Qatar, 2022c). This strategy is by far the most comprehensive sustainability strategy for any FIFA event and sets a new benchmark for future sustainability strategies for FIFA World Cups (Fig. 4.1).

Fig. 4.1
A chart of the FIFA world cup 2022 sustainability framework with five strategic pillars. The pillars are environmental, social, economic, human, and governance.

The FIFA World Cup 2022 sustainability framework’s five strategic pillars

Full size image

This joint approach to sustainability strategy development was a first for any FIFA event. Previous sustainability strategies were developed by FIFA and their local organizing committee without much involvement of the host nation. The new joint approach enabled a stronger focus on the event preparation period and the legacy of the event.

The sustainability program for the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar was unique in many ways. With Qatar being a comparatively small host country for the FIFA World Cup, most sectors in the country were involved in the delivery of the preparations for the event. This presented an opportunity for extensive partnerships with national stakeholders to deliver sustainability programs. The SC, FIFA, and Q22 were the immediate tournament organizers but relied heavily on partnerships with other public sector organizations and the local, regional, and international private sector. Partnerships for delivery and for maximum legacy benefit was very important for the organizers and served as a guiding principle to deliver the sustainability program.

The focus of this chapter lies with the environmental sustainability priorities in the Strategy, which are:

  • Sustainable Buildings (Sect. 4.3 )

    • Design, construct, and operate FIFA World Cup 2022™ sites to limit environmental impacts, while building local sustainable building expertise, supply chains, and standards.

  • Greenhouse Gas Emissions (Sect. 4.4 )

    • Measure, mitigate, and offset all FIFA World Cup 2022™ GHG emissions, while advancing low-carbon solutions in Qatar and the region.

  • Air Quality

    • Minimize local air pollution from FIFA World Cup 2022™ stadiums, training sites, overlay infrastructure and transport services, promoting access to cleaner technologies in Qatar.

  • Waste Minimization (Sect.  4.5 )

    • Minimize waste sent to landfill from FIFA World Cup 2022™ sites, and promote waste management and recycling solutions in Qatar.

  • Water Conservation

    • Minimize water use during the construction and operation of FIFA World Cup 2022™ sites and promote water conservation in related sectors.

Three priorities are discussed in detail in this chapter: Sustainable Buildings, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, and Waste Minimization.

To deliver initiatives in these priority areas, sustainable procurement and extensive training and capacity building were used as important tools. This chapter aims to summarize the key environmental outcomes of the programs and illustrate with examples how the program acted as a catalyst for further development in the same direction in Qatar. The chapter is not a comprehensive report on all aspects of the sustainability program and its outcomes, the final FIFA World Cup 2022 Sustainability Report will fulfil that function.

The legacy impact within the focus areas of the chapter can be categorized in three domains: physical aspects, knowledge aspects, and institutional aspects:

  • Physical aspects refer to new infrastructure and material supply, such as parks, buildings, and rail systems.

  • Knowledge aspects refer to new skills, experiences, and innovations and are often delivered through training courses, on-the-job learning, conferences, articles, film clips, and books.

  • Institutional aspects refer to new or improved organizations that regulate or enable sustainable development, for example an upskilled government department.

4.3 Sustainable Buildings

In a global context, buildings and infrastructure are major contributors to overall greenhouse gas emissions. Their designs have long-term impacts, as they normally stand to serve their purpose for several decades. As a result, improved water or energy efficiency of their design can lead to very large cumulative savings.

The design and construction of stadiums for the tournament started well before the publication of the Sustainability Strategy, however, based on the commitments in Qatar’s hosting bid and FIFA’s green building requirements, the SC set stringent green building requirements for all eight stadiums. The requirements included certification to the independent green building certification scheme, Global Sustainability Assessment System (GSAS), and for the stadium contractor to appoint a sustainability manager and team with certain sustainability credentials. Green building certification requirements for such large infrastructure projects created a ripple effect of sustainability throughout the supply chains of materials, equipment, and services. For example, all electrical equipment, such as Air-conditioners, fans, pumps, lights, etc., installed in the buildings are assessed for energy efficiency. All plumbing equipment such as taps, toilets, and showers were assessed for water efficiency. All chemicals used, such as adhesives and paints were assessed for their chemical content. To meet the criteria for all these types of material and equipment, these criteria had to be included in the requirements used for procurement. When sustainability criteria are a consideration to award winners of commercial tenders, suppliers will make sure they are able to provide products that meet the sustainability requirements as it affects their bottom line. With suppliers responding to sustainability criteria, sustainable products become more readily available in the market at better prices.

Large projects such as stadiums have a long construction process that span over several years. The environmental impact from construction activities was managed in several ways. First and foremost all the activities had to go through the environmental through compliance with the national environmental legislation and permitting process governed by law 30 of 2002. One key component of that process was to develop and implement a comprehensive Construction Environmental Management Plan (CEMP). In addition to the environmental permitting and the CEMP, all stadium construction projects implemented the GSAS Construction Management certification system. This system added an additional layer of control and assessment of the environmental impact from construction practices. These processes enabled clear processes and strict controls on environmental impacts such as groundwater, dust, noise, waste, energy and water use, chemical and fuel handling, etc.

The major projects of Msherieb Downtown Doha and Doha Metro were under construction in Qatar when the construction for the stadiums commenced. These two projects also included green building certification requirements and targets. These major projects required sustainable products, sustainable certification, and sustainability professionals around the same time and created a notable change and uptake of green practices in the local construction sector. This also resulted in a steep increase in the number of GSAS projects in recent years both in Qatar and in neighbouring countries such as Kuwait and Oman (Planning & Statistics Authority, 2020).

As a result of the green building requirements for the stadiums, thousands of professionals were trained in green practices, and thousands of hours were spent inspecting and auditing the stadiums for their green credentials. New documents with best practices and practical advice for future projects were published and incorporated into professional development programs. The environmental performance of all materials used in the buildings was assessed, and it was found that the energy and water demands were reduced by 40% compared to international standards and 80% of construction waste was recycled.

The green building program for the FIFA World Cup was not limited to stadiums. The headquarters of the SC and Q22—Al Bidda Tower—became the very first high rise building in Qatar to receive a GSAS operations certification. This certificate was awarded for the green operational practices implemented by the facility management team. The key learnings from certifying the headquarters were documented and shared in a ‘Green Book’ with other government offices. These lessons were carried forward to inform the operations of the stadiums supporting the achievement of GSAS Operations certification at the stadiums. Assessing the green aspects of the operations of buildings was completely new in Qatar and this program opened the door to improved building management practices in the country.

Hotels are another building type that play a very important role when hosting a mega sporting event. Over 1 million visitors, including officials, players, fans, and media are expected to visit Qatar over the duration of the tournament. The SC collaborated with the Qatar Green Building Council (QGBC) to consult Qatar’s hospitality sector and encourage them to adopt sustainable practices in the lead up to the FIFA World Cup 2022™ and beyond. This program has supported hotels to earn certification, through initiatives like the Green Key Award. As a leading international standard of excellence in the field of environmental responsibility and sustainable operation within the tourism industry, the award assesses 13 criteria, including waste management, green activities offered to guests, and staff engagement. A comprehensive industry survey was carried out with over 100 hotels, which documented the challenges and opportunities for implementation of sustainable practices in the hospitality sector. Green Key has certified 11 hotels in Qatar since 2016. Best practice examples that were implemented in hotels across Qatar include implementing a 100% plastic free policy, reducing food waste, extending recycling programs, using green cleaning products and non-toxic building materials, and revising menus to include more locally sourced produce.

Summarizing the outcomes of the Sustainable Building program for the FIFA World Cup shows significant progress and contribution to all the three legacy themes. Below are a few key examples of how the sustainable building program acted as a catalyst for sustainable development in Qatar.

4.3.1 Physical

The new stadiums have pushed the boundaries on GSAS scoring with several ‘first ever’ achievements. Al Janoub Stadium was, for example, the first ever building, not just stadium, to achieve the GSAS certification for design, construction, and operations. As another example, the Education City Stadium was one of the very first buildings to reach the five star GSAS certification level.

Given the warm temperatures in Qatar, cooling was a challenge in and of itself, made more challenging with the sustainability ambitions. To achieve this, most of the stadium precincts include a district cooling system that produces chilled water for cooling on a large scale in an energy efficient manner, in some cases allowing additional future buildings to connect to this efficient source of cooling after the FIFA World Cup. These type of systems are up to 50% more efficient than conventional cooling systems (Qatar2022, 2022b). Another physical element of the stadiums includes very large new green spaces in Qatar, with over one million square metres of parklands in the precincts around the stadiums. These parks use plants suitable to the local environment grown in the SC’s own plant nursery. The parks are irrigated with recycled water, allowing further development of the local recycled water network. New green spaces also have a cooling effect on the local environment.

Finally, and perhaps one of the most significant aspects of the physical legacy is the change throughout the supply chain. When major development projects, such as stadiums, set clear sustainability requirements, it impacts the supply chain and suppliers will bring new lines of products to the market to meet these requirements. The combined efforts of Doha Metro, Msherieb, and the SC Stadium projects have improved the availability of more sustainable products in the Qatari market.

Examples of regulatory changes that have been introduced recently is the minimum energy efficiency and labelling standard for air-conditioners. Green building requirements are also included in the Qatar Construction Standard. Local manufacturers and importers of sustainable materials has increased, as an example stadium seats were produced locally.

4.3.2 Knowledge

The stadium design and construction program was innovative in many ways and new solutions and technologies were tried and tested in many areas, including to advance sustainability. With over 50 sustainability professionals across the program at its peak, the amassed sustainability expertise was vast. Monthly sustainability knowledge sharing sessions were held to foster a culture of sharing, peer review, and inspiration. Case studies were documented throughout the process, which were shared across an online platform accessible to all who were working on the program for immediate implementation on respective projects. These case studies were later analysed further and summarized in best practice reports that were shared in public for anyone working on construction projects in Qatar and the region. These best practice reports covered topics such as waste management, dust control, energy efficiency, and water management. In addition to this semi-formal way of training, formal training sessions were provided specifically on the GSAS certification system. Thousands of hours of learning were provided through these processes, with summary reports of best practices published on Waste and Dust Management.

4.3.3 Institutional

GSAS certified stadiums was a commitment made during the bid to host the FIFA World Cup. This green building system provided a robust and stringent assessment of the sustainability credentials of the stadiums. The stadium buildings were not like any other building; typical space layouts, user patterns, and equipment were different to standard buildings. As with most standards, the goals and performance aspects remain the same while the application and assessment may change ever so slightly to make the assessment and the compliance practical. For example, since the stadiums were significantly larger than most other buildings, an additional site audit was introduced to be able to check all aspects. The teams on site also provided extensive review comments and suggestions for how to streamline and improve the application and user experience of the GSAS assessment system. One outcome from this was implementation of the GSAS gate online submission and assessment system.

Many of the stadium precincts had district cooling energy centres and there was a need and interest to assess the energy efficiency of these systems. The GSAS administrators developed a new calculator in response to this interest that provided a streamlined way of calculating the Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (SEER) of the full district cooling system. Understanding the SEER values of district cooling system designs will contribute to better decision-making in future district cooling projects.

To summarize, the sustainable building program acted as a catalyst in many ways and contributed to advancing the wider design and construction in Qatar and the region. New solutions, upskilled professionals, valuable resources and new green supply chains, strengthened governing institutions all contributed to sustainable practices.

4.4 Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The bid commitment to deliver a carbon neutral FIFA World Cup in Qatar was very ambitious and innovative at the time. Nothing similar had been attempted on such a large scale. When Qatar was awarded the right to stage the first FIFA World Cup in the Middle East and Arab world, it not only committed to organizing an amazing tournament—but also a mega-event delivered in a sustainable manner.

Part of the strategy includes the delivery of the first carbon neutral FIFA World Cup in the history of the event. To achieve this, all infrastructure projects—including the eight stadiums that will be used for Qatar 2022—had to meet stringent sustainability benchmarks. When the SC, Q22, and FIFA set out its carbon neutral objectives, several key areas were identified in the planning. Achieving carbon neutrality is a process made up of five key components. Firstly, it required raising awareness among key stakeholders, including the general public. This was followed by creating a detailed estimation of the carbon footprint, also known as greenhouse gas emission inventory. The third step was to mitigate and limit carbon emissions, followed by investing in credits from green projects that will offset any of the remaining emissions associated with Qatar 2022. The final step is to ensure a lasting legacy of climate action.

The greenhouse gas inventory was developed by an international carbon expert consultancy in partnership with a local Qatari firm under a contract with the tournament organizers. The partnership made sure that all relevant best practices and international standards were applied, while understanding local context and data sources when estimating the carbon emissions for the event. There was also a component of capacity building within the local consulting firm that later went on to carry out similar studies in Qatar. Bringing sustainability expertise to the local market is a key enabler for ongoing sustainable development, and in this case, better understanding of greenhouse gas inventory studies and analysis of where to focus climate action for best impact.

Staging the most compact version of the World Cup in modern history was one important feature in the carbon reduction strategy. Many of the measures taken to reduce carbon emissions centred around the compact nature of the tournament. Fans, players, and officials will stay in one accommodation during the tournament. With the longest distance between stadiums being just 75 km, fans will have the opportunity to attend at least two matches in a single day during the group stage, since five of the stadiums are connected to the Doha Metro and the other three accessible by connecting bus services. Many of the buses serving the stadiums will be electric buses, since 741 new fully electric buses have been supplied and will be in use by the time of the event, making up 25% of the bus fleet. The SC has also worked with the hotel sector in Qatar to encourage green practices to reduce carbon emissions from accommodation. This project saw publication of best practice guidelines for the hotel sector to reduce energy consumption, manage waste, and provide efficient water management and reuse, as well as practical guides for how to achieve certification for green hotel operations (Qatar2022, 2022a).

The compact nature of Qatar 2022 will not only provide convenience for fans and an optimal performance environment for participating teams, but it will also eliminate the carbon footprint of domestic air travel that fans, players, and officials were required to do to attend matches in previous World Cups. With air travel being recognized as one of the world’s largest sources of carbon emissions, this will have a significant impact on reducing the tournament’s carbon footprint.

Reducing carbon emissions was also factored into the building of Qatar 2022 venues—most notably the eight World Cup stadiums. Careful consideration was given during the design and construction of the stadiums for lower energy and water consumption, the reusing and recycling of water and materials wherever possible, highly efficient cooling systems, the use of renewable energy for lighting in some stadiums, creating designs that allows for natural light, native trees and plants in stadium parklands, and efficient waste management strategies. The reduction in carbon emissions from introducing new green space and plants was estimated at 23,000 tonnes per annum (Spanos et al., 2021).

All eight stadiums that will be used during Qatar 2022 have been built to be 40% more water and energy efficient when compared with conventional designs. Many of the stadiums have exceeded industry ratings by implementing non-mandated requirements for sustainability. One such example is Stadium 974. The 40,000-capacity venue will be the first fully demountable stadium in FIFA World Cup™ history, with its components being used to create other sporting projects during legacy mode. This pioneering approach will set new benchmarks in waste reduction. The carbon benefits of this innovative design approach were studied in detail, and it was concluded that the demountable approach was beneficial, provided that the new location was not too far away (FIFA World Cup Qatar, 2022b).

Another key component to achieve carbon neutrality will be the use of solar energy to help power Qatar during the tournament. Qatar is currently developing a large-scale 800 MW solar energy plant on a 10km2 plot in Al Kharsa’ah, in the central part of Qatar. The voluntary carbon market will be used to procure carbon credits to offset the remaining carbon emissions. The carbon credits came from projects such as solar, hydro and wind energy, waste treatment, energy efficiency, landfill efficiency, and industrial efficiency. All carbon credits came from verified third-party standards and from a variety of countries, including Qatar.

These initiatives will leave an important sustainability legacy for Qatar and the region and provide an invaluable blueprint for the use of sustainable practices in future sporting events held around the world.

4.4.1 Physical

One of the main physical carbon reduction projects in Qatar has been the transformation of the public transportation system in the country, including the Doha Metro, Lusail and Education City light rail, and the new fleet of electric buses. These solutions are providing electrified mass transit options, and reducing carbon emissions per kilometre travelled per passenger significantly when compared to the more conventional modes of private transport typically used. The Al Kahara’ah large-scale solar power plant will supply renewable power for the tournament. Once the tournament concludes, the plant will continue to produce clean renewable energy for many years to come, leaving a significant legacy as a carbon reduction project. The numerous carbon offset projects in Qatar and in the region that received funding from the purchase of credits towards the FIFA World Cup will continue to operate and deliver carbon savings for many years beyond the event. The funding that came through this mechanism contributed to the realization of these projects, as they became more financially viable due to this funding.

4.4.2 Knowledge

The Qatar 2022 program included a large amount of outreach on the topic of carbon. This included a webinar series with Josoor Institute, an online course delivered on the Edx platform with Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), numerous conference presentations including international United Nations conferences as well as local conferences such as the Qatar Sustainability Summit and Qatar Sustainability Week. These activities have built knowledge and capacity within Qatar, and have also facilitated a sharing of lessons learned globally.

In order to assess carbon reductions, new and adopted calculation methodologies were developed. Some examples of this include the carbon assessment of the demountable Stadium 974 and the extended scope of the event carbon footprint due to the inclusion of additional activities of the host country that were excluded in assessments of previous events. Some of the projects that were the basis for the carbon credits were either using new technology or were in new locations, requiring the assessors of these credits to develop new methodologies to accurately estimate and verify the carbon reductions. The development of these new methodologies and technologies will have legacy impacts beyond Qatar and beyond 2022.

4.4.3 Institutional

The carbon program for the FIFA World Cup 2022 saw the formation of the Qatari institution Global Carbon Council (GCC), a voluntary carbon offsetting program. The GCC aims to assist organizations that reduce their carbon footprints, help different sectors of the economy to diversify by adopting low-carbon pathways and catalyse climate actions on ground. The key activities of the GCC are to:

  • Support organizations implementing GHG reduction projects and measures;

  • Develop standards for emission reduction calculations and monitoring of GHG reduction projects;

  • Establish market system for carbon offsets;

  • Establish a carbon offsetting program that deliver credible, cost-effective, and sustainable carbon offsets; and

  • Communicate organizational and regional climate actions.

The SC supported the formation of the GCC through providing sustainability expertise and providing funding to develop the first GCC-specific GHG calculation methodologies, alongside a commitment to procure carbon credits from this scheme once operational. This allowed the GCC to approach prospective carbon reduction project owners in Qatar and in the region to establish baselines and calculate emission reductions with the goal to convert carbon reductions to carbon offsets, which in turn were cancelled for the FIFA World Cup hosts to achieve carbon neutrality. To date, nearly 200 projects have been registered with the GCC. The GCC is now a fully operational institution that has been recognized by several international governing bodies for its credibility and will remain in operation long past 2022 carrying out its mission to expedite climate action in Qatar and the region. Similarly, those carbon reduction projects that have been assessed with credits issued, will continue to generate carbon credits that can be traded for years to come generating revenue that can be re-invested in additional climate action projects.

4.5 Waste Minimization and Recycling

The Qatar National Vision and the UN Sustainable Development Goals both place a strong emphasis on reducing waste, encouraging recycling, and moving towards a circular economy. The approach for Qatar 2022 followed the standard waste hierarchy, simply put Reduce—Reuse—Recycle. The program focused on construction waste in the first phase while later focusing on event time waste.

Construction waste was managed through contractual requirements to achieve certain recycling targets on select sites and to achieve the GSAS certification requirements, which also cover construction waste. The overall recycling rate for construction waste reached 79%. Detailed tracking and review of the waste management systems and its performance drove a systematic change to how construction waste was handled on the stadium sites, which contractors will carry forward to future projects. The SC collected data, best practices, and lessons learned throughout the construction period. This information was summarized and published in a free to access resource that guides any contractor on how to achieve high recycling rates during construction (GORD, 2021). This resource is used by contractors across Qatar and examples from the resource are used in GSAS training courses. Practical examples and case studies of effective methods implemented locally are very valuable for local contractors. A lot of information about this topic comes from practices implemented abroad in a different context, which in many cases can prevent implementation in Qatar. This new resource with local examples has been received very well by professionals working in Qatar.

Construction waste and event time waste are two quite separate issues to tackle. Although the principles of reduce, reuse, recycle are the same, the type of waste and the operational environment is very different. The FIFA Club World Cup 2020 and FIFA Arab Cup 2021 were the two main test events ahead of the FIFA World Cup. These events were also used to refine the waste and recycling operations. The testing included new operational models, communication and awareness campaigns, waste bin design, upstream reduction measures, and downstream treatment options. Waste streams were also measured, which resulted in the insight that organic waste was by far the biggest contributor to downstream waste. The organic waste was mainly made up of food leftovers, compostable cutlery, and grass clippings. Cardboard and plastics were also important contributors.

During the event time, most spectators are focused on the event that they have come to attend and may not pay much attention to recycling and source segregation, hence the waste in the bins was mixed and not very well segregated. To increase the segregation of waste streams, manual on-site segregation was carried out. This system allowed cleaner waste going to each recycling facility. et al. Bayt Stadium during the FIFA Arab Cup, the recycling rate for event time waste reached 70%. On-site composting facilities were used to process the organic waste. The compost was then used at one of the largest farms in Qatar.

Additionally, a significant portion of single-use items were sourced as compostable rather than plastic, which was the standard practice. Workforce food service was carried out in a buffet style, which eliminated a large amount of food packaging and created a nicer atmosphere for the workforce. Reducing single-use food packaging and replacing single-use plastics with compostable alternatives were key strategies to reduce the overall waste and increase the recycling rates.

During the two test events, it became obvious that the general awareness of recycling among spectators and workforce was very low. In response to this problem, the SC created the OneTide community campaign (One Tide n.d.). Using awareness messages online and at in-person events, the OneTide campaign aims to raise awareness and understanding of recycling in general and plastic waste recycling in particular.

Reflecting on how the FIFA World Cup program acted as a catalyst in the area of waste management and recycling, there are legacy benefits in several areas, as discussed in the following sections.

4.5.1 Physical

The physical legacy of the waste and recycling program is the material that was not sent to landfill, but rather diverted to other treatment processes. This diverts a negative environmental impact and a cost benefit as a potential new revenue stream for stakeholders in Qatar. National capabilities for organic waste treatment through large-scale treatment and smaller-scale composting have developed significantly during the years of Qatar’s FIFA World Cup preparations. Local capabilities now amount to several options for local composting services, local manufacturing of certain composting machines, and of course availability of locally produced compost. Qatar’s arid environment combined with its ambitions to plant a million trees and to build new green parks makes the shift to locally produced compost even more important. Another systems shift is the availability of compostable single-use cutlery, food packaging, and plates during the lead up to the tournament. The supply and local manufacturing of these types of products enables reduction of plastic waste and increases the composting rates recovering much more valuable material. Although single-use plastics are still used in many places across Qatar, the lead up to the FIFA World Cup has seen a significant shift in the update of compostable alternatives. These physical changes are contributing to a broader societal shift towards more sustainable consumption.

4.5.2 Knowledge

Following the two test events and the construction projects, it is now proven that it is possible to achieve high recycling rates in Qatar in many sectors, however a concerted effort is required. It is also well understood what is required to reach even higher rates and close the loop by achieving zero waste to landfill. These experiences have been documented and shared either in public or directly with relevant stakeholders. New operating procedures, a consolidated list of recyclers, and even new businesses have been established as a result. The consolidated list of all known recycling companies in Qatar is a valuable resource in delivering waste and recycling projects. At the start of the program, the providers were unknown to most and it was very challenging to find recyclers for any material. Through the collective effort of the professionals working on the program, a long list of recycling companies in Qatar covering nearly all materials was available for all to use. This was a contributing factor to achieving an average recycling rate at nearly 80% for construction waste and 70% of event time waste et al. Bayt Stadium during the FIFA Arab Cup.

4.5.3 Institutional

The OneTide awareness program was a direct outcome of FIFA World Cup 2022 preparations and a response to the low awareness of recycling in general and plastic waste in particular. OneTide has been using football stars to engage with a wide audience on these topics. OneTide has also produced short clips highlighting some local waste and recycling champions that are contributing to improved waste and recycling in Qatar. In addition, several targeted training courses were provided, for example on how to reduce plastic waste from merchandize and gifts. The OneTide program is intended to carry on after the tournament and continue to deliver education and awareness programs. With Qatar’s recycling sector growing fast, new laws, regulations, and standards have been drafted or passed to improve the processing of materials, encourage source segregation of waste, and allow recycled materials in more applications (see Chap. 12 and Chap. 16).

4.6 Future Options and Conclusions

Sustainability in sports and mega-events is a rapidly growing field receiving more emphasis and attention. This is partially because of the opportunities associated with the spotlight that a sports club or event can provide to the issue of sustainability, but also the growing sense of responsibility among the sports industry. The response to these issues by organizers of events such as Olympics and FIFA World Cups has become increasingly sophisticated over the years, and it is expected that this will continue to grow over time. Beyond the mega-events, other large events are also taking on the sustainability challenge.

Hosting the FIFA World Cup in Qatar is a unique opportunity to catalyse positive development in the country in many different areas, including environmental sustainability. This FIFA World Cup has already had profound impact on the country as a whole. This short book chapter gave some brief insights and examples of how the event contributed to improved environmental sustainability. The event catalysed physical improvements, enhanced knowledge, and institutional developments. The sustainability approach at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar was the most comprehensive to date. The strategy development, the human resources, the programs, the reach, and the depth of the impact were beyond what had been seen before in the history of the FIFA World Cup.

At the time of writing, the FIFA World Cup 2022 has not yet started, consequently it is not possible to conduct a comprehensive assessment of all plans and interventions. Although public progress reporting is carried out at fifa.com, this reporting is mainly focused on progress against plans rather than impact. Following all recent FIFA World Cups, a sustainability report has been published with comprehensive data sets provided and with assessment of impacts. These reports have been prepared in compliance with international best practice standards. The sustainability report for FIFA World Cup 2022 Qatar will be published in 2023.

It seems reasonable and plausible therefore that future events may look to this program to seek inspiration and lessons learnt for how to design and benchmark their programs. Qatar will also host many large events in the future, including Asian Games 2030, and should capitalize on the developments that the FIFA World Cup has brought about: new infrastructure, new operating models, new skills, and new supply chains. With sustainability becoming increasingly more important in selection of event host nations, Qatar can have a sustainability edge on many other hosting cities and countries. Its approach to sustainability has provided a blueprint future mega-event host nations can follow. The continuation of this requires a systematic approach to capturing best practices and lessons learnt across the sustainability value chain, and to keeping up with new developments and ideas. The physical, knowledge, and institutional gains catalysed by the FIFA World Cup 2022 set a strong foundation for the continuation and advancement of these sustainability gains.