FIFA Standard and environmental sustainability: thinking ahead

This study aims to identify opportunities for advancing the environmental sustainability standards established by FIFA. The study adopts a comparative approach to analyse how different environmental certifications relate to FIFA’s stadium sustainability requirements. The process includes selecting comparable cases, defining the elements to be compared, and conducting a general comparative analysis. The findings indicate that the environmental sustainability aspects in FIFA’s standards, as defined in the 2011 and 2022 documents, encompass dimensions such as carbon reduction, energy efficiency, sustainable water use, biodiversity, waste management, and green certifications. Standards such as B Corp, GRI, Carbon Trust, and ISO 14001 offer advances that could be incorporated into the FIFA standards. It is concluded that future developments of the FIFA Standard should consider incorporating internationally recognised environmental standards.