Qatar committed to delivering carbon-neutral 2022 World Cup
The Gulf Organisation for Research and Development is working with the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy to hold a carbon-neutral World Cup in 2022.
Youssel Al-Hur, Chairman of the Gulf Organisation for Research and Development (GORD), has stated Qatar’s commitment to hosting a carbon-neutral 2022 World Cup. To achieve this goal, there has been major investment in the area of sustainability, as the country bids to put on a tournament that sets the environmental benchmark for the global football event.
GORD working with Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy to reduce greenhouse gases
“An agreement has been reached between the Gulf Organisation for Research and Development and the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, the 2022 World Cup’s organising body, to provide support in holding a carbon-neutral World Cup, implementing measures that work to cut regional carbon emissions. Indeed, 25 projects have already been put in place with the aim of reducing greenhouse gases in several areas,” Al-Hur said.
He added: “The GORD has joined forces with a United Nations environmental programme to develop projects seeking to bring down carbon emissions, with the objective of promoting a sustainable urban environment. What’s more, other sporting competitions are being encouraged to achieve carbon-neutrality: for example, a deal has been agreed with the Qatar Stars League (QSL) that will see it become a carbon-neutral domestic league ahead of World Cup 2022.”
"Qatar leading way in fulfillment of urban environmental standards"
“At a regional level, Qatar is leading the way in the fulfillment of urban environmental standards, as the Global Sustainability Assessment System (GSAS) has been applied to all national construction projects being carried out, following the system’s inclusion in Qatari building specifications in 2014,” Al-Hur explained in comments published by the Qatari newspaper Al Sharq. He continued: “These projects include the 2022 World Cup stadiums, the underground stations in the city of Doha, the National Museum of Qatar and the Global Carbon Trust (GCT), a subsidiary of the Gulf Organisation for Research and Development.”
Al-Hur notes that the GCT is the first voluntary carbon-offsetting programme in the Middle East and North Africa, and helps to push forward the process of reducing the world’s greenhouse-gas emissions.