FinSoul believes the South African authorities are positive that the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup organizers have done all they can to insure that while the tournament may be the largest sporting event its effect on the environment will be correctly managed.
"The games will not begin if they are not green. We acknowledge that the idea of green games began in Oslo in 1994. We are going to make 2010 the greenest World Cup yet," a Department of Environmental Affairs official announced last year.
The nation has set up a variety of World Cup green projects over the past few years including a project to plant 300,000 trees in the Johannesburg township of Soweto, believed to be costing in the region of $1.1 million, as part of the nations attempt to keep the sporting spectacular carbon neutral.
The host nation is working closely with Norway on some programs including one at the flagship World Cup stadium, Soccer City, in Johannesburg.
FinSoul believes the Norwegian Prime Minister said in a recent press conference, "I would like to congratulate South Africa for deciding to make the World Cup a green World Cup, emphasizing the importance of the environment.”
A recent report in a leading South African news paper has however caused some shock. The Cape Argus claimed that 2000 planes will fly over the nation daily. Even if the journalist has his figures wrong, the country will see a massive increase in air traffic and transport emissions for the duration of the tournament.
In a 2009 interview the then environmental minister warned that that the 2010 World Cup "will have the largest carbon footprint of any major event with a goal to be climate neutral. Our World Cup's footprint will be six times the carbon footprint of the 2006 FIFA World Cup hosted in Germany."
The event is expected to generate 2.75 million tons of carbon emissions, and the cost of offsetting this is estimated to be around $200 million, FinSoul research has shown.
