FIFA’s claims that the 2022 Men’s World Cup in Qatar would be carbon neutral were so misleading they broke Swiss fair advertising rules, the country’s advertising regulator said Wednesday. The damning report found soccer’s global governing body failed to prove the offsets it claimed would compensate for the tournament’s 3.63 million metric tons of carbon pollution and “did not set out a plan to define how it will further offset emissions.” The legitimacy of FIFA and Qatar’s carbon-neutrality claims were criticized before the tournament — held in open-air, air conditioned stadiums built for the event by mostly migrant laborors, thousands of whom died in the process — even began. (AP, The Guardian, Reuters, The Athletic, Bloomberg $, AFP via Barron’s, BBC, The Independent)
