World Cup: Shuttle flights cast doubts on carbon-neutral pledge

In the run-up to the World Cup, Qatar pledged to make this the first carbon-neutral event in the tournament's history. But climate advocates raised serious doubts about its sustainability claims. So, is Qatar living up to its promise? Due to an acute shortage of hotel rooms in Qatar, tens of thousands of visitors are staying in neighbouring Gulf countries, including the United Arab Emirates. A shuttle flight service has been set up to take fans to football matches, with an estimated 500 daily flights in and out of Qatar's capital, Doha. Of those, Dubai in the UAE is operating nearly 120 flights every day. The environmental cost of transporting fans to the host nation by plane has come under scrutiny. The Paris-based carbon accounting firm Greenly estimates the shuttle flights have resulted in between 6,000 and 8,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions every day since the tournament started. The immense volume of shuttle flights undermines the organisers' pledge to minimise flying during the tournament, Khaled Diab, of advocacy group Carbon Market Watch, says. "One of the rationales for having so many stadiums concentrated in a small geographical area was to help reduce emissions related to air travel," he says. The World Cup was expected to attract more than 1.2m visitors, but Qatar only had 30,000 hotel rooms, 80% of which were booked in advance by Fifa for football teams, officials and sponsors. Shuttle flights allow travellers to book same-day round-trip flights from Dubai or other Gulf locations to attend a match in Qatar and return. Private jets and charters are also in huge demand, with hundreds landing in Qatar every day from around the region. Diab, from Carbon Market Watch, says their use shows the pledge to make the tournament carbon neutral was never serious. "If they wanted, they could have looked for other solutions, like driving from neighbouring countries," he says. But Qatar has defended its decisions.<br/>