Category: A Sustainable World Cup: Two Perspectives

Since Qatar won the bid for FIFA World Cup 2022 it has used its financial and natural resources to work for ‘carbon-neutral’ World Cup with a ‘sustainable legacy’. It aims to use the WC as a catalyst for positive change in the country and  inspire the world.  However, along the way Qatar has faced international criticism due to the enormous amount of money being dedicated to constructions and the appalling conditions the migrant WC workforce has been subjected to. Many critics have declared that Fifa WC 2022, a ‘World Cup of Shame’. In this blog post, I will explore to what extent Qatar has been successful in working towards its promised sustainable legacy.

In the recent awakening of its environmental consciousness, Qatar has begun to emphasize the need of sustainable development, which can be seen in its preparations for the WC as well as its Qatar National Vision 2030. This emphasis on sustainable development reflects Qatar’s acknowledgement of its current environmental and economic issues and its efforts to provide resource and economic security to the coming generations. Hence, sustainable development in its core entails a sense of intergenerational equity and justice. The Sustainable Strategy Report put forth by the Supreme Committee of Delivery and Legacy (SC) declares, “sustainability has been at the heart of the FIFA World Cup 2022™ from the start, with planning and delivery premised on the idea that generations to come should find our shared planet a greener, more equitable place, free from discrimination…”. This statement communicates the rhetoric of intergenerational justice that Qatar aims to achieve through including sustainability in the WC preparations. However, the interaction of intergenerational justice and a sports Mega-event like WC seems unusual and uncommon. How does Qatar aim to achieve intergenerational justice by hosting an (questanably sustainable) event of tremendous scale and impact? I argue that Qatar’s focus on creating a sustainable legacy for its future generations through a ‘green’ WC and the ways through which it is trying to achieve this green WC demonstrate a limited aspect of the principle of environmental justice.

The concept of environmental justice has been greatly critiqued in the field of environmental humanities. It refers to the just distribution of resources for all people regardless of their socio-economic status and is extended to future generations as well. To comprehend this term better, let us  look at what environmental injustice is.  Urban eco-researchers, Helga Leitner, Emma Colven and Eric Sheppard (2017) in their case study on the effect of  hydroelectric engineering projects to counter flooding in Jakarta, quote the scholarship on environmental injustice as “the uneven socio-spatial distribution of environmental hazards” and “disproportionate environmental and health impacts of air toxins, pesticides, landfills, resource scarcity on communities of color and/or lower income neighbourhoods” (p.200). Hence, working for environmental justice means working not just to ensure equal distribution of resources for all people (from current and future generations) regardless of color, socio-economic status but also to ensure their equal protection from environmental dangers. In the case of Qatar, the struggle for working for environmental justice results from resource scarcity that Qatar currently faces both in its limited natural resources of water and agriculture land as well as depleting fossil fuel reserves. Another significant voice, in the field of EH, Hessie (2008) in one of the chapters of her book ‘Sense of Place, Sense of Planet’,  discusses her analyses of two competing environmental rhetorics- place and global interconnectedness. To reach her argument about rhetoric of place, she extensively discusses the literature of environmental justice ecocriticism. She (2008) writes that environmental justice activists draw attention to the fact that  “not only the privileges of encounters with nature as well as the risks associated with some branches of agribusiness and industry are unevenly distributed but that this uneven distribution has in some instances helped to perpetuate environmentally unsound practices whose consequences have often not been suffered or even noticed by the middle class” (p. 31). Hessie  (2008) agrees with this and declares the activities as being ‘quite right’. Hence, this again stresses that the people most in danger of suffering due to unequal distribution of resources and environmental risks, are the poor people of low socio-economic status.

At this point, you may be wondering how the above discussion of environmental justice connects to Qatar’s promise of sustainable legacy and intergenerational justice through the WC. I mentioned above that Qatar’s efforts of a sustainable WC demonstrate a limited aspect of environmental justice. Qatar is developing strategies to work for sustainable tournaments through designing stadiums that use 40% less water and energy by using innovative and efficient technologies of cooling, insulation and lighting. Such strategies that are implemented to decrease the pressure on Qatar’s natural resources during the WC reflect that Qatar is trying to ensure that a mega-event like the WC does not exhaust Qatar’s resources, significantly degrading the environment for the future generations, leading to unequal resource distribution. However, I argue that Qatar is not extending this environmental justice to everyone as the migrant workforce have clearly been excluded from this justice. Since the beginning of construction for the WC ten years ago, the migrant workers of Qatar have faced immense hardships like very low pays, congested living conditions, extremely long working hours in the scorching heat. According to the Guardian, 1300 Nepali workers have died from heatstroke in the last eight years and statistics show that if no change occurs, by 2022, more than 4000 migrants workers will have died to the inhumane conditions they are facing. The leader of Norwegian trade comments that if we are to hold a minute of silence for each estimated death of WC worker that will have occurred by 2022, the first 44 matches of the WC will be silent!

 The scholarship on environmental injustice highlights that people more at risk of environmental risks and the struggles of unequal resource distribution are those of low socio-economic status, which is exactly what is happening in Qatar. The poor migrant workers face deadly high temperatures while working on implementation of sustainability strategies that were designed to benefit the current people of Qatar as well as future generations. Why does Qatar not extend environmental justice to the workforce that is responsible for the majority of the progress Qatar has achieved on its preparations of the WC? Why does Qatar practice this limited form of environmental justice, where it only works to ensure ecological security for its own citizens while leaving the migrant workers completely out of the environmental justice equation?  It is important to note that Fifa as well as SC have issued multiple statements recognizing the problems faced by the workers and have made promises to make efforts for improving their conditions, the most significant being the promise of abolishing the Khalafa system; however, no major improvement has occurred in the past ten years. For this reason many critics have accused Qatar of ‘failing their workers’ and even raised petitions to transfer WC to another host country.

Qatar’s efforts to leave a sustainable legacy through the WC and the complication it faces with its labor sector, forces us to question the usefulness of the rhetoric of environmental justice.  Hessie (2008) argues that both the initial concept of sustainable development as well as its revisions which include a notion of environmental justice in them “have not to date generated the kind of powerful images” that were believed could be achieved by this term when it was coined (p. 27). Hessie’s comment makes us further lose our faith in the power of sustainable development and what it can achieve through intergenerational environmental justice. This discussion of Qatar’s promise of sustainable legacy through Fifa World Cup 2022 and exclusion of migrant workers from the environmental justice rhetoric raises many questions: Can Qatar achieve intergenerational equity for its citizens while excluding the migrant workers?  Can environmental justice be achieved just by manipulating resource scarcity or does it require a change in social policies too for the people most vulnerable to environmental injustice to be included in it? Will a post-World Cup Qatar have the sustainable legacy it is so desperately seeking to achieve?

Resources:

Heise, U. K. (2008). From the blue planet to google earth-environmentalism, ecocriticism, and the imagination of the global. Sense of place and sense of planet: The environmental imagination of the global, 17-67.

Leitner, H., Colven, E., & Sheppard, E. (2017). Ecological security for whom? The politics of flood alleviation and urban environmental justice in Jakarta, Indonesia. In The Routledge companion to the environmental humanities (pp. 210-221). Routledge.

Cary Wolfe, a prominent environmental philosopher, argues for a new method of thought that deconstructs our notion of the human and pushes forth the posthuman in his book What is Posthumanism?. It is a branch of cultural theory critical of the foundational assumptions of humanity and its legacy that examines and questions historical concepts of “humanism” and “human nature”. It challenges stereotypical notions of human subjectivity and is the embodiment of moving beyond the ancient concepts of “human nature” in which humans are superior. In this blog post, I argue that the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC) in Qatar has a particular stance and approach to the topic of environmentalism that could be described as a sort of humanist posthumanism. This humanist posthumanism is best described in Wolfe’s From Dead Meat to Glow-in-the-Dark Bunnies.^[1]

For Wolfe, Posthumanism challenges what it means to be a human and dethrones anthropocentricity. Wolfe wants to deconstruct this system of domination where the human is the rational being at the core of knowledge. Posthumanism is essential because it finds that privileging the human over all other beings and making them central to life is incomprehensible. The traditional boundaries between humans and non-human animals signify that humans rule the world; posthumanism alludes to a universe where these boundaries are blurred. The universe is instead filled with non-human subjects that are not reserved to the background of humanity. To connect this to Qatar’s case, the SC is educating the citizens of Qatar through awareness programs taught at schools that humans do not have the right to decimate the environment and what is left of our natural resources.^[2] It leads the future generation of Qatari citizens to consider the issues the environment faces and provides technological solutions to overcome them. The SC attempts to address a posthumanist state without genuinely moving away from the centrality of humans; it takes on board a sort of humanist posthumanism approach.

Wolfe argues that humans need to find a mode of thought that will confront this idea of human domination because we need to rework our ethical attitudes by deconstructing this human-animal distinction and hierarchy. Yet, the prevailing attitude in Qatar is that humans are above animals however non-human animals and the environment are vital to our existence. The SC educates the people of a similar notion that humans are not allowed to deface the earth and harm the environment; it focuses on furthering our standard of living while being sustainable and maintaining our environment.^[3] To see the environment in the foreground with humanity as opposed to the background of humanity. The SC attempts to minimize the scale of human pollution by raising awareness in a posthumanist way but still maintains a humanist element. The SC showcases human centrality by partnering with local organizations to educate the masses in order to leave behind a “Legacy”, one that reemphasizes human superiority without disregarding the environment’s pivotal role.^[4] In a sense, the SC is keeping humans and the environment on the same pedestal. The SC states that they are trying to create a positive social change in Qatar that validates environmental crises and introduces modes of environmentalism that will aid in pushing forth an ecological agenda. The SC will share the stage with the environment with both humanity and the environment in the foreground.

Bibliography:

“Community Engagement.” See You In 2022. Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy. Accessed November 13, 2020. https://www.qatar2022.qa/en/opportunities/community-engagement.

“Education & Research.” See You In 2022. Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy. Accessed November 17, 2020. https://www.qatar2022.qa/en/opportunities/education-and-research.

Wolfe, Cary. “From Dead Meat to Glow-in-the-Dark Bunnies.” Essay. In What Is

Posthumanism?, 145–67. Minneapolis, MN: Univ. of Minnesota Press, 2011.

Wolfe, Cary. What Is Posthumanism? Minneapolis, MN: Univ. of Minnesota Press, 2011.

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^[1] Wolfe, Cary. “From Dead Meat to Glow-in-the-Dark Bunnies.” Essay. In What Is Posthumanism?, 145–67. Minneapolis, MN: Univ. of Minnesota Press, 2011.

^[2] “Community Engagement.” See You In 2022. Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy. Accessed November 13, 2020. https://www.qatar2022.qa/en/opportunities/community-engagement.

^[3] “Community Engagement.” See You In 2022. Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy. Accessed November 13, 2020. https://www.qatar2022.qa/en/opportunities/community-engagement.

^[4] “Education & Research.” See You In 2022. Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy. Accessed November 17, 2020. https://www.qatar2022.qa/en/opportunities/education-and-research.

The state of Qatar, now considered one of the richest nations in the world, was a mere barren peninsula before the discovery of its oil reserves. Today, it prepares to host the first-ever ‘carbon-neutral’ Fifa World Cup and to showcase its sustainability to the world after facing criticism for its contribution to carbon emissions through heavy use of fossil fuels. In this blog post, I will explore Qatar’s dependency on its fossil fuels, its implications for the Qatari society as well as its implications in the context of the promised sustainable legacy of the WC 2022.

Qatar’s history with and current use of fossil fuels -mainly oil- is heavily entangled in a term called, ‘petromodernity’ which has been deeply explored in the field of Environmental Humanities. Hannes Bergthaller (2017), an expert on issues surrounding the Anthropocene, in his writing, Fossil Freedom: The politics of emancipation and the end of oil, reviews the existing literature on the term of petromodernity and makes several arguments for the necessity of thinking beyond oil. He describes petromodernity as the idea that the standard of living we claim as ‘modern’ was achieved and continues to depend on petroleum. He writes, “If we ask what it felt like to be “modern” in the twentieth century, our answers will invariably lead us back to petroleum. It fueled not only cars, ships and airplanes, but, along with them, visions of the good life, individual and collective aspirations, and a cultural style…” (p. 424) Comparing the condition of Qatar before and after the discovery of its oil reserves, we can clearly see how Qatar depicts a case of petromodernity. Its transformation from a small desert to a ‘modern’ country with iconic skyscrapers that loom over its skyline, is owed to its oil reserves. In an interview, a Qatari merchant, Saleh Nishwar, whose family has been doing business in Souq Waqif for over 100 years recalled the time before the discovery of oil as ‘a simple life’. He says, “everything was close to home and everyone knew each other. There were no telephones, no televisions, no cars. Everything evolved after oil…” Mr Nishwar’s words are a testament to Qatar’s transformation into a ‘modern’ society using oil and further strengthen the use of the term petromodernity in the context of Qatar. Many Qataris consider the hosting of WC 2022 as the height of modernity, as according to them, it is something pre-oil Qatar could never do.

The term petromodernity does not just give petroleum the credit of improving living standards but also associates petroleum with a sense of liberation and freedom. Bergthaller (2017) highlights this fossil fuel freedom in context of American life when he writes, “threats to the oil supply also constitute a threat to the liberty and self-reliance of American citizens” and raises the question, “But what is freedom, one must ask, if it depends on something that is not free?” (p. 425-426). In the case of Qatar, I argue that while the role of petroleum in ‘modernizing’ Qatar is quite clear, Qatar does not realize that its freedom and liberty is also due to petroleum. Qatar’s preparations to host WC 2022 and its satisfactory progress despite facing numerous challenges to its economy and production from the blockade of the neighbouring Gulf nations shows the world that Qatar is now wholly free of depending on these nations and is sufficiently self-reliant. Moreover, the enormous amount of money used in the preparation of a sustainable World Cup is a showcase of Qatar’s financial freedom. I argue that all of these freedoms Qatar takes pride in result from the heavy use of oil and other fossil fuel resources. Hence, while the World Cup may be a modern symbol of freedom and liberty for Qatar, this freedom only exists because of Qatar’s fossil fuel reserves.

Qatar has included clean renewable energy through different innovations like LED lighting and new cooling technology in its sustainability strategy for the upcoming WC. However, this only generates 30% of the needed energy and fossil fuels are still needed to meet the rest of the demand. A budget of $200 billion has been created to fund the WC preparations from lighting to cooling to all the necessary infrastructure, an astonishing amount since the past five WC have cost $47 billion together! Hassan Al Thawadi, Secretary of the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy which is overseeing WC progress has commented that the budget for each football pitch is $6 billion. Qatar is going far beyond all the previous Fifa host nations in its finances for the WC while simultaneously working for a sustainable legacy through its World Cup. Qatar’s enormous budget is not very surprising considering the fortune Qatar gains through its oil exports. Many critics like blogger Taewan Kim hold the opinion that Qatar’s efforts for sustainable World Cup hold no value as long as it uses ‘dirty oil money’ and contributes to carbon emissions globally. Moreover, Hassan Al Thawadi declares  hosting the WC as an opportunity to “showcase an unwavering commitment to sustainability – and use the tournament as a springboard to inspire millions of others… We cannot wait to welcome everyone to our state-of-the-art stadiums in 2022”. Mr Thawadi’s comment raises the question of Qatar’s intentions behind the desire to host a carbon-neutral WC. Are the gigantic finances for WC just to show the world that Qatar is environmentally conscious and using its petrodollars to fight for the environment through new technologies and innovative stadiums? Would Qatar have been able to showcase its ‘modernity’ and freedom through a sustainable WC if it did not have an oil rich economy? Furthermore, does Qatar realize the implications of working for a sustainable legacy while using an oil-based economy and heavy reliance on fossil fuels? It is important to note that since the previous years, Qatar has started to move away from oil because of its rapidly depleting oil reserves as well as fluctuation in oil prices, however, it is still heavily dependent on the hydrocarbon sector as shown by the IMF report of 2019 .

In my opinion, Qatar’s efforts towards a carbon-neutral World Cup are undermined by its heavy dependence on the hydrocarbon sector and funding obtained through its oil exports. As such, WC becomes less a showcase of sustainability and more a showcase of freedom and ‘modernity’ of Qatar, both of which are achieved by petroleum. Qatar’s desire to have a sustainable WC and its use of fossil fuels to work for it raises many questions: Can Qatar have a ‘sustainable legacy’ when it is so dependent on its hydrocarbon sector? Could the billions of dollars going into preparations of WC be put to better use like directly tackling an environmental problem of Qatar, instead of being used to showcase sustainability to the world?

Resources:

Hannes Bergthaller, “Fossil freedoms: the politics of emancipation and the end of oil,” The Routledge Companion to the Environmental Humanities (2017)

The Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC) has taken an environmentalist approach to their design and construction of these stadiums. Environmentalism is best summed up by Greg Garrard, a prominent Eco-critic, in his book Ecocriticism as a position that depicts people who care for the environment but also want to continue advancing in terms of technology and improving their current standard of living. Environmentalists I argue in this blog post that the SC takes a specific stance in environmentalism when it comes to constructing their stadiums, leaning towards a more Promethean environmentalist approach. This essay’s primary purpose is to critique the intentions of the SC as they may seem genuine from a superficial glance, but when analyzed, there are many questions left unanswered.

In a sense, the SC is capable of improving its construction for these stadiums and maintaining their business essentially, all while tending to and protecting the environment. This position applies to the SC as they have made the necessary changes to their stadiums to make it environmentally friendly such as; minimizing waste, increasing their ability to recycle, and water management.^[1] They want to maintain ecological security in Qatar while providing the capabilities of development to secure prosperity for the ecosystem and minimize threats against the environment and create a successful World Cup. This specific approach was created by Martin Lewis, an Eco-critic mentioned in Garrard’s book; it alludes to humanity using their greed for industrialization in a way that is responsible for the environment.^[2] It argues for ecological modernization, a sort of capitalism guided by responsible environmentalists to provide technological solutions to the many issues the environment faces. The SC promotes finding solutions to Qatar’s environmental problems, and they are doing so by creating awareness and making a difference in business’ environmental standards.^[3] However, the level of sincerity is questioned because caring for the environment as an environmentalist business creates doubt.

The SC is not only informing their employees and the people of Qatar, but they are also promoting a new lifestyle entirely. A lifestyle focused on recycling and living in a way that is considered environmentally friendly. Yet, there is empirical evidence against their environmentalist front; they are a business, meaning they are doing this to first and foremost profit off of it. They are capitalists in nature, benefiting off of their “environmentalist” front. What I found to be controversial is that they will dissolve immediately after the World Cup after dispersing sections of the stadiums to different countries; this brings up questions about how authentic their intentions towards sustainability are. On the one hand, the SC is pushing Qatar’s standards; they have effectively made Qatar the forefront of environmentalism and sustainability. The SC makes a difference in Qatar’s environment and the world’s view of how environmentally friendly large scale events like the World Cup can be. The SC is creating an ecologically friendly World Cup to bring positive attention to Qatar from the international community, but how much of it is really for the sole purpose of the environment?

Bibliography:

“Environmental Sustainability.” See You In 2022. Accessed October 28, 2020. https://www.qatar2022.qa/en/about/sustainability/environmental.

“FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022TM Sustainability Strategy.” Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy. Accessed September 20, 2020. https://resources.fifa.com/image/upload/fifa-world-cup-qatar-2022tm-sustainability-strategy.pdf?cloudid=p2axokh26lzaafloutgs.

Garrard, Greg. “Positions.” Essay. In Ecocriticism. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2012.

Miller, Rory. Desert Kingdoms to Global Powers: The Rise of the Arab Gulf. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016.

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^[1] “Environmental Sustainability.” See You In 2022. Accessed October 28, 2020. https://www.qatar2022.qa/en/about/sustainability/environmental.

^[2] Garrard, Greg. “Positions.” Essay. In Ecocriticism. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2012.

^[3] “FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022TM Sustainability Strategy.” Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy. Accessed September 20, 2020. https://resources.fifa.com/image/upload/fifa-world-cup-qatar-2022tm-sustainability-strategy.pdf?cloudid=p2axokh26lzaafloutgs.

Qatar, a country facing immense ecological pressures due to its limited resources of water, high dependency on fossil fuels, air pollution, has in recent years begun to demonstrate an increased environmental consciousness by working for solutions for the ecological challenges it is facing. Qatar’s efforts to hold a sustainable Fifa World Cup and the promise of leaving behind ‘a sustainable legacy’ reflect this environmental consciousness. Before we explore this promise of sustainable legacy in the context of WC, let us take a step back and first better understand Qatar’s approach to comprehending and resolving its environmental struggles. Understanding this approach will allow us to better evaluate Qatar’s progress and efforts in hosting a sustainable WC which will be analyzed in the coming blog posts.

Greg Garrad, a sustainability expert and one of the most prominent voices in the area of environmental criticism, in his book Ecocriticism, identifies different environmental ‘positions’ that have a distinct understanding of environmental crisis and differ in their approach to devise solutions. Among the contrasting positions he emphasizes, I argue that aspects of Qatar’s attitude towards its environmental strains best fit the position Garrad (2012) describes as ‘social ecologist’. This position rejects the notion of limits of natural resources and holds the view that these limits are “a function of the will and means of capital: the purposes that guide production, and the technologies that facilitate it” (pg.31). Hence, the approach of this position to overcome resource scarcity is to use the power of technological innovations to replace harmful industrial processes and to change the aim of production from ‘accumulation of wealth’ to meet needs of the people. This position stresses that “ecological problem of limits is produced by capital’s structural need for perpetual growth…” (pg.31). While Qatar does understand the scarcity of its water resources, it has long tried to combat this scarcity with innovative technology, the latest being ‘Multi Effect distillation’ (MED) to desalinate water as desalination is the main source of Qatar’s water. A research director at Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute (QEERI) which is working to implement this technology comments, “Our work focuses on water resources as well as new materials and methods to make it more sustainable and more efficient to produce the water we need”. She describes innovative thinking coupled with advanced technology is required to achieve the goal of water security (Huda Al Sulati). QEERI is also working to implement technology like membrane bioreactors to process water at gas and oil fields, produced during gas/oil extraction. This demonstrates that Qatar does not take ecological limits of fossil fuels into consideration and rather manipulates an already strained resource to overcome water scarcity. Furthermore, Qatar Petroleum, which is the largest state-owned energy company, also depends heavily on technologies and improvements instead of recognizing the limits of fossil fuels as an energy resource. I argue that this dependence of Qatar on advanced technological solutions to reshape the scarcity of resources prevents implementation of policies that limit the use of these resources both by the state and public and demand change in habits of people. This reliance of Qatar on capital and technology to manage the limits of its resources strongly reflects a social ecologist stance to environmental difficulties.

Another significant feature of the social ecologist position as highlighted by Garrad is the view that environmental problems result from social complexities and as such it is difficult to separate environmental problems from social problems (p. 32). This connects to the concept of environmental justice which refers to the just and equal distribution of resources for people independent of their socioeconomic status and extending to future generations as well. This concept is firmly embedded in Qatar’s environmental consciousness in its 2030 National Vision and is also one of the goals of the sustainable WC as Qatar aims to manage its environmental problems and use resources to provide for current generations in a way that does not comprise the needs of the future generations and decreases negative environmental impact.  To achieve QNV 2030, the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics (MDPS) has put forth 17 Sustainable Development Goals, one of which is “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture” (SDGs Report, p.) This demonstrates the social ecologist position of tackling the social problem of lack of food and proper nutrition by improving local agricultural and livestock production practices to provide food security for current people as well as future generations. Qatar has achieved much in this area through Hassad company which invests in livestock across the globe and through Global Project Development Company which works to implement more efficient local agriculture techniques.  MDPS saying, “sustainable development can only be achieved when there is social progress, economic growth and environmental change…” emphasizes Qatar’s social ecologist stance as it ties together all the significant views of this position. Qatar trusts that social progress is important to resolve environmental crisis and advanced technologies help to manipulate the ecological limits of resources and bring economic gain.   All of these together make way for sustainable development, which will decrease environmental degradation and provide intergenerational resource justice, according to Qatar’s approach to its environment.

Now that we have understood Qatar’s ecological position, it raises the question of how effective this social ecologist approach to the environment is and will it allow Qatar to achieve the sustainable legacy it has promised? In the coming blog posts, I will explore Qatar’s efforts towards a sustainable WC, the cultural significance of a ‘green’ WC and will use Qatar’s social ecologist position along with additional environmental humanities literature to offer new insight into Qatar’s promise of sustainable legacy in the context of the WC.

Hannes Bergthaller argues in Fossil Freedoms; The politics of emancipation and the end of oil, how petroleum has become integral to our way of life. Bergthaller suggests that we should instead work on finding new modes of development for us to stop exploiting the environment by using fossil fuels for modernity. Petromodernity is a way to describe a society reliant on cheap energy, which is made possible by fossil fuels. Bergthaller defines petromodernity as a phase within the fossil fuel regime, which is the mass consumption of fossil fuels from industrial sites to day-to-day life. In a way, our addiction to advancement has enslaved us to a life centered around the “liberal dissipation of energy”.^[1] Our freedoms are certainly bound by oil, the same way the sovereignty of earlier humans were bound by their limited ways of life. This blog post will argue that it is paradoxical of human freedom; oil allows us to feel different forms of freedom by cheap means but is it freedom because we are not acting independently in the world? If we move away from dependency on oil, we will lose certain perks from society. To connect this to Qatar, we can see a system of reliance on petroleum that Qatar’s government has been trying to minimize. Still it has been a challenge to adopt an environmentally friendly lifestyle because of the state’s nature.

The domination of petroculture in Qatar is prevalent as it is a rentier state. A rentier state is one that is paid for with the money accumulated through oil or gas rent to the rest of the world. A rentier state’s innate nature harms development because it is a system of domination with no democracy. Bergthaller states that democracy is the right candidate for post-petromodernity, and due to Qatar’s authoritarian regime with an absolute monarchy, it is not a suitable candidate for post-petromodernity. Bergthaller states, “…democracy did not begin with fossil fuels, there is no reason to believe that it will end with them.” he defends it only because it predated the fossil fuel regime.^[2] Fossil fuels are necessary for the state to stay afloat; a sudden shift to post-petromodernity will destroy Qatar’s economy. “When the oil runs out… the entire elaborate artifice of modern society will collapse like a house of cards”.^[3] The Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy is trying to make a difference in Qatar. They are doing that by creating stadiums for the World Cup 2022 that are less reliant on fossil fuels and focus on more sustainable construction. The stadiums will be the first prototype-like beginning for Qatar’s environmentally friendly venture.

            All of the SC’s stadiums are on track to achieving at least four stars on their certificate from the Global Sustainability Assessment System (GSAS).^[4] The GSAS is a system in the Middle East and North African region developed by the Gulf Organization for Research and Development (GORD) for rating eco-friendly infrastructures.^[5] They are judged against incredibly meticulous criteria with a perfect score of six stars. The assessment system includes various categories for both design and build, such as; Urban Connectivity, Site, Energy, Water, Materials, Indoor Environment, Culture and Economic Value, and Management and Operations.^[6] The Khalifa International Stadium and Al Janoub Stadium have received four stars on their GSAS certification in 2017 and 2019, respectively. The Education City Stadium and Al Bayt Stadium have received five stars on their GSAS certification in 2020^[7]. They have only been increasing their ability to rate higher with time due to their commitment to sustainability.

The SC has proved that it is deconstructing that reliance on oil and gas and reformulating our petroculture into a sustainable and environmentally friendly culture. Bergthaller’s argument is that modernity will not occur without fossil fuels because modernity stands on the use of fossil fuels. To move past that regime, we will have to reformulate our understanding of freedom. Freedom is defined as the ability to have power over one’s own body and circumstances. Petromodernity created that freedom in which an individual had the authority to live autonomously, fabricating a sort of faux self-reliance. As Bergthaller concluded, “Freedom is a mansion with many rooms. With proper precautions, some of them will remain habitable even after fossil fuels are gone”.^[8]

Works Cited:

“Environmental Sustainability.” See You In 2022. Accessed October 28, 2020. https://www.qatar2022.qa/en/about/sustainability/environmental.

“GSAS Overview.” GORD. Accessed October 29, 2020. https://www.gord.qa/trust-gsas-resource-center-overview.

“GSAS Scoring Sheet.” GSAS. GORD . Accessed October 29, 2020. https://gordqa-my.sharepoint.com/:x:/g/personal/info_gord_qa/EaPfpY2waWVBks_LLTP2RPIBY0V2kpSZgEHApuLwqVke5g?e=U7gPuz.

Hannes Bergthaller. “Fossil Freedoms.” Essay. In The Routledge Companion to the Environmental Humanities, 424–30. London ; New York: Routledge, Taylor et Francis Group, 2017.

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^[1] Hannes Bergthaller. “Fossil Freedoms.” Essay. In The Routledge Companion to the Environmental Humanities, 424–30. London ; New York: Routledge, Taylor et Francis Group, 2017. Page 430

^[2] Ibid Page 430

^[3] Ibid Page 426

^[4] “Environmental Sustainability.” See You In 2022. Accessed October 28, 2020. https://www.qatar2022.qa/en/about/sustainability/environmental.

^[5] “GSAS Overview.” GORD. Accessed October 29, 2020. https://www.gord.qa/trust-gsas-resource-center-overview.

^[6] “GSAS Scoring Sheet.” GSAS. GORD . Accessed October 29, 2020. https://gordqa-my.sharepoint.com/:x:/g/personal/info_gord_qa/EaPfpY2waWVBks_LLTP2RPIBY0V2kpSZgEHApuLwqVke5g?e=U7gPuz.

^[7] “Environmental Sustainability.” See You In 2022. Accessed October 28, 2020. https://www.qatar2022.qa/en/about/sustainability/environmental.

^[8] Hannes Bergthaller. “Fossil Freedoms.” Essay. In The Routledge Companion to the Environmental Humanities, 424–30. London ; New York: Routledge, Taylor et Francis Group, 2017. Page 430

During the tremendous excitement of the Fifa World Cup, its nail-biting and edge-of-the-seats moments, the glory and vibrance associated with each match, the impact of this event on our already strained environment is hardly on anyone’s mind. For most of us, Sports Mega Events (SME) and sustainability do not go together. This view is strengthened by the past Fifa World Cups, whose magnificence came at the expense of the environment of the host country with a significant increase in carbon emissions among other negative effects. However, SME organizers and the host country have recently started to make an effort to include sustainable development in terms of energy, water, carbon emissions, waste management in the long planning and organization that undergoes these events. Along the way, small victories have been achieved and Germany’s efforts during the Fifa World Cup of 2006 are especially commendable. It aimed to be a role model for the environment during the World Cup and started a ‘Green Goal’ initiative to manage water, energy and transportation effectively without environmental degradation during the WC. An amount of €300,000 was invested in this initiative and successful results were obtained during the WC regarding resource management.

The next WC host, Qatar is a nation heavily dependent on fossil fuels, owing its transformation from a barren peninsula to one of the richest countries to fossil fuels. Qatar brought global surprise by announcing the first ever ‘carbon neutral’ WC and giving preservation of the environment a high place in WC planning. The organizing platform, Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC) has declared sustainability as ‘the heart of preparation for the tournament’ and in collaboration with Fifa has laid out the first ever report of ‘Sustainable Strategies’ to be implemented to reduce environmental damage and set a high standard for future SMEs. These proposed strategies consist of solar-powered stadiums with low energy cooling systems, energy efficient LEDs, dismountable stadiums made from recycling structures of old stadiums, donation of stadium furniture to countries developing sports and an overall compact WC taking place in one city. Many consider the early development of the Doha Metro system a showcase of Qatar’s progress in its sustainability goals. It has been argued that Qatar’s devotion to hold the biggest event of the world without negative environmental impact is proof of its aim to catalyze sustainable and lasting legacy and reflects environmental consciousness of both Qatar and Fifa. On the other hand, some major environmental researchers have strongly criticised sponsors of Fifa, declaring they ‘tear the world apart under the guise of bringing people together’ (Jesse Bag) and accuse them of ‘greenwashing’ and being ‘responsible for the climate catastrophe’ we are facing.

Fifa World Cup 2022 and Qatar’s objective of sustainable legacy have a complex place in the framework of environmental humanities. Living in the Anthropocene and the loss of agency that comes with it, many ecocritics call for new thinking and intervention in environmental practices. Do Qatar’s sustainability strategies meet this criteria of new thinking or will they lead to the same environmental havoc they are trying to prevent? While Qatar’s environmentalist position has been clearly established by Qatar National Vision 2030 as well as its approach to WC, can this position be identified as ‘social ecology and eco-Marxism’ approach? This position holds the belief that scarcity of natural resources is shaped (and solved) by the power of capitalism and technological innovations and that humans are neither part of nature (monism) nor separate from it (dualism). An important aspect of this view which has been explored deeply in ecoliterature, is the concept of environmental justice, the just and equal distribution of resources for all people regardless of socio-economic status, as well as for future generations. The official report of Sustainable Strategies by SC states its mission of leaving a positive legacy through which the future generations find the environment greener with a long lasting future. This connects to the rhetoric of environmental justice by reducing environmental degradation impact for the coming generations. However, after the deaths of immigrants working on the construction of stadiums, due to unbearable heat, critics of Qatar’s policies raised the question whether Qatar extends environmental justice to the immigrants working to make its sustainability strategies a success.

A final aspect to be considered is that everything we have come to consider ‘modern’ as well as a good standard of living and the cultural productions we take pride in, all depend on petroleum. In the field of environmental humanities, this concept is referred to as ‘petroculture’ or ‘petromordernity’. These terms have a special place in environmental humanities and also connect strongly to Qatar, as it is one of the most dominant producers of fossil fuels. Qatar, itself, heavily associates its transformation into a ‘modern’ country with the discovery of its oil reserves. Qatar continually depends on fossil fuels for its energy and economy so the implications of these terms- petromodernity and petroculture-surrounding WC and sustainability rhetoric must be considered.

Hence, the case of WC 2022 and Qatar’s sustainability stance is heavily tangled with the sphere of environmental humanities. In my future blog posts, I will explore this case in detail and show how environmental humanities can give us new insight into the questions and issues raised by Qatar’s promise and effort of sustainable legacy.

Resources:

https://www.qatar2022.qa/sites/default/files/docs/FWC-2022_Sustainability-Strategy.pdf https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/22/6407/htm

https://www.gulf-times.com/story/616949/Qatar-promises-the-first-carbon-neutral-World-Cup-in-2022

For a long time, Qatar had been one of the most toxic countries globally because of the pollution and lack of environmental safety and sustainability. To combat this, the Qatari government has been taking steps towards protecting and sustaining the region’s natural resources. On December 2nd, 2010, Qatar was announced to be the country in charge of hosting the 2022 World Cup. This led to the investment and implementation of more sustainable modes of construction. The Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC) is the company responsible for organizing the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. They have been a pillar in providing cutting edge technologies that promote sustainability. This emphasis on caring for the environment is evident in stadiums’ sustainable development through recycling and their approaches to lowering Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions.

The SC aims to create stadiums in a sustainable way to decrease their carbon footprint. The SC intends to deliver “a fully carbon-neutral FIFA World Cup 2022… by implementing leading sustainable building standards, waste and water management practices and low-emission solutions”.^[1] This is interesting when it comes to the environmental humanities because the carbon footprint is significantly reduced for such a large event and the lasting impact these stadiums will have. The stadiums can be reused for different venues, and parts of the stadium will be taken apart and sent to other countries for their football ventures. They plan on increasing the percentage of waste recycled in Qatar by 2022. All the stadiums have been constructed in a way to maintain waste management. They are promoting a new eco-friendly lifestyle entirely, a lifestyle focused on recycling and living in a way that is considered environmentally friendly.

The SC will lower GHG emissions by measuring and mitigating the emissions through low-carbon solutions. They have partnered up with organizations to create public transportations like the Doha Metro and Lusail Tram, which all have exits near the stadiums to ensure cars’ carbon footprint are minimized. They have also created a large scale solar power plant for Qatar instead of relying on gas. Another project they have honed in on is the Green Car initiative with the government to promote electric cars for a less polluted environment. They have also partnered up with local carbon reduction projects alongside their own SC Tree Nursery. The SC’s Tree Nursery was created to absorb any remaining GHGs in the atmosphere. The trees are planted near the stadiums, watered with treated wastewater to recycle and maintain sustainability.

Concerning literature on the Environmental Humanities (EH), I believe the way the SC has presented its ideas relates to a specific position posed by Greg Garrard in his book Ecocriticism. In his chapter “Positions”, Garrard discusses a variety of different sub-schools in EH. I will mainly focus on Environmentalism as that is the position that fits the SC’s stance the best. He describes Environmentalists as people concerned with environmental issues but wish to continue progressing and improving their living standards. With that being said, the traditional route of Environmentalism is a position critiqued by Garrard that it does not work. It is the path most developed nations have been following for decades, yet we are still facing an environmentally charged apocalyptic crisis. His critique is that it is widespread and mainstream, and thus, in terms of ethos, it is often deemed shallow. The government and the SC are taking their time developing technological solutions to the environmental crisis, thus combatting a shallow ethos’s ideas. The SC works on training its employees and the workers they have for constructing the stadium infrastructure on sustainability. The green stadiums that Qatar is creating will change Qatar’s label of being a polluted country with little to no understanding of sustainability to an environmentally friendly country.

The country will continue to develop and improve the standard of living, all while taking care of the environment. However, this raises specific questions: What will happen to this environmentalist movement once the Qatar World Cup 2022 ends?

Bibliography:

“FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022TM Sustainability Strategy.” Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy. Accessed September 20, 2020. https://resources.fifa.com/image/upload/fifa-world-cup-qatar-2022tm-sustainability-strategy.pdf?cloudid=p2axokh26lzaafloutgs.

Garrard, Greg. “Positions.” Essay. In Ecocriticism. London: Routledge, 2012.

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^[1] “FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022TM Sustainability Strategy.” Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy. Accessed September 20, 2020. https://resources.fifa.com/image/upload/fifa-world-cup-qatar-2022tm-sustainability-strategy.pdf?cloudid=p2axokh26lzaafloutgs.