World Cup 2006 Green Goal Scores
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 06. 3.06
If you are a regular here at TreeHugger, you have already seen that the World Cup 2006 Football (Soccer) Championships will set a new standard in green. With the first matches less than a week away, the Football Frenzy is really taking off: and green is still in the game. On Friday, 26 May, German Football great Franz Beckenbauer joined in at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin to help further promote awareness of the environmental initiative behind the scenes of the 2006 World Cup. Among the many aspects of the Green Goal program, FIFA world cup tickets double as fare tickets for the public transit system--which goes hand-in-hand with the "Berlin Steigt Um" campaign here in Berlin (roughly translated "Berlin changes mode of transport"). And for the locals, postcards like the one above promote using a bicycle to reach one of several secure, free bike parking places to be set up near major event centers. The theme in this graphic--bikes will get you through the traffic--will ring true to many a Berliner. (The card reads "All roads closed/Free for bicycles").
If you make it here to Berlin, you will enjoy games in the stadium with the largest rainwater collection cistern, 1400 cubic meters (368,000 gallons), in Europe; Nuremberg is a close second. If your visit to the World Cup passes through Kaiserslautern, Dortmund or Nuremberg, you will enjoy power from one of the world's three largest solar power installations at football stadiums (or take a day trip to the world's largest solar plant, period--also in Germany). Recently the stadium in Munich joined Nuremberg in receiving the strictly audited EMAS certification for environmentally conscious design and management. At any stadium, you will get your drinks in reusable containers, paying a small deposit to ensure return (or offset the loss of "souveniers").
TH brought you the news of FIFA's intention to keep the games carbon neutral when it was announced in 2005. As of March 2006, the goal is achieved, with donations of business partners financing investments of €1.2 million off-setting the estimated 100,000 tons of incremental CO2 emissions attributable to the championship competition. The 100,000 tons is calculated after all efforts to minimize emissions attributable to the games by efforts such as the contract to power the 13-million kilowatt-hour games with carbon-neutral hydroelectric power.
Via: FIFA Press Release and for the whole story, see the bilingual (German/English) 16 page e-flyer Green Goal
Photo: Berlin Steigt Um
These measures are really great but something tells me all of the fuel used by airplanes to transport thousands of people to this event is not included. I would say these emmissions are "attributable" to the games! It seems disingenuous proclaim the event "climat neutral", but applaud the effort :)
===Author's note===
You are correct. Perhaps it could be said not enough was done, but we try to celebrate the starting point. The goal is to cover all emissions "in Germany" hence air traffic was left out of the equation. All ground traffic: cars, busses, etc have been included, accounting for 70-80 of the 100 thousand tons. For the negative view, take a look at:
Alles Öko zur WM?
(German only)
Aside: You may want to avoid mentioning anything FIFA-related in the Treehugger podcast because it looks like their representatives are already taking pre-emptive action against other sites. I am not lawyer, but given their actions I wouldn't want to take the risk of streaming anything on the topic.
Green Goal