2010 Carbon Footprint

How big an ecological and carbon impact does a world cup sized event have on a country?

A recent article published in the Guardian suggests that the South African 2010 World Cup event will have an impact 8 times bigger than that of the one hosted by Germany in 2006.

A feasibility study conducted by analysts at Swedish group Econ Pöyry found  that “Africa’s first football World Cup will generate 2.75m tonnes of carbon emissions, one of the biggest environmental impacts of any sporting event in history.” And that’s before the impact of international long haul flights have been taken into account.

That’s not cool at all. Our geography is partially to blame – we’re big and visitors will need to travel far between games – but our transport systems aren’t very energy efficient:

The report said carbon offset programmes to counter the World Cup’s impact would cost between $5.4m and $9m (£3.3m to £5.4m).

It called for the early implementation of carbon offset programmes from football’s governing body, Fifa, the local organising committee and the South African government. These should be visible during the event to “maximise the contribution to public awareness”.

How will you be curbing your own carbon footprint during this time while still maintaining gees? I’d say travelling with full cars and walking where you can is a good start.