Fifa, IOC pledge NetZero carbon emissions by 2040

• Published date: 05 November 2021
• Publication title: Sports Tab

The pledge was one of several agreed at the COP26 United Nations climate conference in Glasgow by the Sports for Climate Action Framework (S4CA), an organisation set up in 2018 to bring sports bodies together to achieve global climate change goals.

Organisations have also agreed on a target of a 50% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2030.

‘‘Four years since we launched the Sports for Climate Action Framework, more than 280 sports organisations have committed to the overarching objectives of aligning sport with the goals of the Paris Agreement,’’ Patricia Espinosa, UN climate change executive secretary, said at the launch of the targets.

‘‘The sector eagerly took up the challenge, but also told us that they want to do more and to do it faster.

‘‘These organisations are now being challenged to reduce emissions 50% by 2030 at the latest and to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040.’’

Sport is seen as particularly vulnerable to a warming of the earth’s climate with several high-profile examples of rising temperatures affecting events such as the Australian Open tennis and Winter Olympics.

A report last year entitled Playing against the clock: Global sport, the climate emergency and the case for rapid change said one in four English football grounds could expect flooding every year by the 2050 because of sea level rises.

The English Premier League, the world’s richest domestic...