What Happened: The 2026 World Cup and Its Climate Impacts
The 2026 FIFA World Cup has ended, leaving marks that go beyond Spain's victory. The tournament was marked by extreme weather conditions, with heat and humidity interfering with matches, leading players to wait for hydration breaks and causing stadiums to close their roofs. Storms interrupted and delayed games, while smoke from wildfires prompted air quality alerts in the final region, in New York/New Jersey.
Moreover, the expansion of the tournament, from 32 to 48 teams, and the enormous distances between the host cities (Mexico, the United States, and Canada), spread across a continent, made this the World Cup with the greatest climate impact in history. To make matters worse, while football was trying to adapt to the effects of a warmer planet, the tournament was sponsored by Aramco, the world's largest oil company, whose partnership with FIFA could generate an additional 34.7 million tons of CO₂ equivalent.
Why It Matters: The Real Risks and Consequences
The episodes showed how football is already being played in a different climate from that of the World Cups held three or four decades ago. This is highlighted in a briefing prepared by the organizations Cool Down – Sport for Climate Action Network, Fossil Free Football, and New Weather Institute, which analyzes how the climate crisis affected the World Cup and how the tournament itself contributed to worsening it.
The briefing highlights that the 2026 World Cup exposed the impacts of the climate crisis and was the most polluting in history, with extreme heat becoming part of the competition and Aramco occupying some of the most visible spaces in the tournament.
The Science Behind: Understanding the Climate Mechanism
Analyses by Climate Central and the World Weather Attribution (WWA) already indicated that heat would be one of the protagonists of the competition. Climate Central estimated that climate change would increase the probability of temperatures above 28°C in 97 of the 104 matches and that 14 of the 16 stadiums would face growing risks of extreme heat by 2050.
This limit is considered critical because, according to FIFPRO, the union that represents professional players, matches played above 28°C WBGT [an index that combines four main factors: air temperature, humidity, wind speed, and direct solar radiation] should be postponed or rescheduled. However, FIFA only provides for suspension when the WBGT exceeds 32°C.
Broad Context: How This Compares to Other Events and Research
Ten cities that hosted games in 2026 also hosted matches in the 1986 or 1994 World Cups. Today, extremely hot days during June and July are about three times more frequent in these locations than they were in the previous editions. In Miami and Mexico City, they occur approximately seven times more.
“This World Cup returned to many of the same cities as 1986 and 1994, but it did not return to the same climate,” summarized Simon Stiell, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
What's Next: Implications and Open Questions
The briefing highlights that the World Cup anticipated challenges that will accompany future editions. In 2027, Brazil will host the Women's World Cup, which will also have Aramco among its sponsors. In 2030, the men's tournament will be played on three continents, further increasing the emissions associated with travel – the three opening matches in South America and the rest of the competition in Portugal, Spain, and Morocco.
Beyond the impact of travel, the tournament will take place during the European summer, when cities like Seville and Marrakech frequently record temperatures above 35°C. Already in 2034, the World Cup will take place in Saudi Arabia, where the heat will again require changes to the traditional calendar.
Conclusions and Recommendations
The document recommends that FIFA update its heat safety protocols, review the expansion of the tournament to reduce travel, and end sponsorship contracts with fossil fuel companies and other highly polluting sectors.
The 2026 World Cup showed that it is no longer possible to separate football from the climate in which it is played. The heat altered matches, required adaptations, and highlighted the limits of infrastructure in the face of a warming planet. But it also revealed another contradiction: adapting the sport will be insufficient as long as the competition continues to increase its emissions and promote companies that help accelerate the climate crisis itself.
Source / Reference
Original URL: https://climainfo.org.br/2026/07/26/copa-do-mundo-de-2026-expos-impactos-da-crise-climatica-e-foi-a-mais-poluente-da-historia/
Source Name: ClimaInfo