An opinion article argues that private-jet travel by wealthy spectators has substantially increased the 2026 FIFA World Cup’s climate impact, while ordinary fans and taxpayers effectively bear some of the resulting public and environmental costs. It calls on FIFA to ban private jets at matches and reduce long-distance tournament travel, saying the issue conflicts with FIFA’s climate commitments.

Using an Institute for Policy Studies tracker, the author estimates that private jets attending the first 102 matches produced 136 kilotonnes of additional carbon emissions before the final—comparable to the annual emissions of 31,723 petrol cars. The article also cites tax breaks for private jets and notes that the 2030 World Cup will span six countries, arguing that such formats encourage further high-emission travel.