Public institutions, governments and international organisations are increasingly expected to demonstrate consistency between their environmental commitments and the behaviour of their leaders. This principle, often referred to as carbon accountability, extends beyond measuring emissions, it concerns whether organisations are perceived as genuinely committed to reducing them. This distinction is particularly relevant for sport where, unlike industrial sectors, emissions are directly linked to production. Sporting events derive much of their environmental impact from choices about mobility, logistics and organisational priorities, and every decision, from the tournament format to travel schedules, reflects a governance model rather than a technological necessity. The contradiction therefore becomes evident, while FIFA has repeatedly identified aviation as one of the greatest sustainability challenges facing the World Cup [3], its own president relied extensively on one of the most carbon-intensive forms of transport available.

Private aviation especially occupies a unique position within climate science discussions, although it represents only a tiny fraction of global flights, emissions per passenger are several times higher than those associated with commercial aviation because aircraft frequently transport only a handful of passengers while consuming comparable amounts of fuel. The International Energy Agency and numerous academic studies have consistently identified private jets as among the least efficient modes of transport in terms of emissions per passenger kilometre [4]. The issue extends beyond climate accounting; it concerns the messages conveyed by institutional leadership. Major sporting organisations increasingly present themselves as actors within global sustainability agendas, FIFA itself has linked its environmental strategy to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals [5], while international federations routinely publish sustainability reports highlighting their commitment to decarbonisation, such commitments inevitably raise expectations regarding behavioural coherence.

This tension has fuelled growing accusations of high levels of greenwashing in international sport; the term describes situations in which ambitious environmental communication is not matched by equally ambitious operational changes.  Sustainability strategies that focus predominantly on carbon offsetting, without addressing the structural drivers of emissions, risk producing limited environmental benefits while reinforcing public scepticism [6]. The 2026 World Cup illustrates precisely this dilemma, using existing stadiums undoubtedly reduced emissions associated with construction. However, these savings are likely to be overshadowed by transport-related emissions generated by unprecedented geographical dispersion. In environmental assessment, avoiding emissions through infrastructure reuse cannot fully compensate for creating new emissions through increased aviation demand.

Figure 1: Illustration of the penalty area with green melting away, Image by Guilherme Gomes from Pixabay

The contradiction becomes even more complex when considered within the geopolitical context surrounding the tournament. Despite being hosted in North America, the competition has highlighted FIFA’s increasingly global political network. Qatar Airways, one of FIFA’s principal commercial partners, played a central logistical role throughout the tournament, including the provision of aircraft used by many senior officials [1]. At the same time, the organisation continues to maintain sponsorship agreements with major fossil fuel companies, most notably Saudi Aramco, despite mounting criticism from scientists and environmental organisations regarding the compatibility of such partnerships with global decarbonisation goals [2]. Beyond sponsorships, the tournament unfolded amid broader geopolitical tensions, like immigration restrictions, visa uncertainties affecting supporters from several countries and ongoing diplomatic disputes inevitably influenced participation and travel patterns. Football, once portrayed as politically neutral as every sport should be, increasingly reflects the complexities of an interconnected world where sport, diplomacy and international business are deeply linked together.

In this context, mobility is not simply a logistical issue but also a political one. Every flight carries an environmental cost while also reflecting broader choices about priorities, accessibility, and who is expected to bear responsibility for reducing emissions. Although supporters are often encouraged to lower their environmental impact through individual behavioural changes, institutional actors are in a far stronger position to shape a tournament’s overall emissions through the strategic decisions they make [1].

Scientific literature on mega-events [7,8] consistently reaches a similar conclusion: technological efficiency alone cannot deliver meaningful emissions reductions if overall demand for long-distance travel continues to increase. This phenomenon, commonly described as the “rebound effect“, explains why improvements in efficiency are frequently outweighed by growth in the scale of an activity. The expansion of the FIFA World Cup embodies this paradox, larger tournaments create greater economic opportunities, wider global audiences and increased commercial revenues. At the same time, they require more flights, longer travel distances and increasingly complex logistics, environmental sustainability therefore becomes less a question of engineering than of governance.

Ultimately, the controversy surrounding Gianni Infantino’s travel should not be interpreted simply as criticism directed at one individual. Rather, it exposes a broader challenge confronting international sport: can global sporting institutions credibly lead climate action while simultaneously expanding the scale and mobility demands of their flagship events? The answer will shape far more than the environmental legacy of the 2026 FIFA World Cup; it will determine whether sustainability in global sport evolves into a measurable transformation of organisational practice or remains primarily a powerful narrative accompanying business as usual.

Cover and preview image: A football on a green pitch, source [6]