Expanded 2026 World Cup emissions could double Qatar 2022, driven by air travel across North America

The 2026 FIFA World Cup, hosted across 16 cities in the US, Canada, and Mexico, is expected to generate 7.8 million metric tons of CO2, according to a new assessment from carbon accounting platform Greenly. That is more than double the estimated emissions from the 2022 Qatar World Cup and roughly equal to the annual emissions of 1.7 million cars or the entire country of Sierra Leone. Researchers say up to 87% of the tournament's emissions will come from air travel as teams, fans, and media criss-cross a 2,800-mile stretch from Vancouver to Miami. Unlike Qatar's compact single-country format, the geographic spread of the 48-team tournament makes it inherently more carbon-intensive, even though no new stadiums were built. The finding raises hard questions about whether expanding major sporting events is compatible with climate goals.