Soccer’s world governing body, FIFA has called on sports organisations across the world to expedite action toward tackling climate change.
FIFA’s head of sustainability and environment, Federico Addiechi who made the call at the 12th Play the Game conference in Odense stressed that the time had come for climate change to be taken seriously.
During his presentation, Addiechi said that FIFA has been measuring and offsetting carbon emissions, as well as engaging with stakeholders to understand climate change impacts and find solutions since 2o10.
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He noted that FIFA will continue to take climate action leadership by engaging actively and collectively with member associations, teams, players, fans and other sports to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and other key stakeholders and reaching climate neutrality by 2040.
“As the title of this panel correctly says, we are all playing against the clock,” he said. “We need to review how we do sport fundamentally, not only to contribute to reducing emissions but also to adapt our sports to the changes in our climate and physical environment so that they can be enjoyed by future generations, just as we have been enjoying them.”
Recall that FIFA was the first sports federation to join the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC) Climate Neutral Now campaign and also became a founding signatory to the UNFCCC Sports for Climate Action Framework in 2016 at the United Nation’s Climate Change Conference (COP24) in Poland.
The governing body has also pledged to measure, mitigate, and offset emissions with the help of Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy at the World Cup this year.
Besides other climate-related commitments, FIFA also launched the Green Card for the Planet campaign focused on protecting the environment.
Story was adapted from inside the games.
