Climate change is coming for our favourite sports

By Rebekah White

As temperatures climbed during the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup, players found themselves battling more than their opponents.

About one in five matches took place in heat and humidity that, according to post-tournament analysis, should have triggered postponement.

At this year’s French Open, held as a heatwave swept across Europe, players struggled and at least one competitor collapsed from heat exhaustion.

“It’s not like climate change will happen in the future to sport,” says Dr Chris McMillan, a sociologist in the Faculty of Arts and Education at the University of Auckland.

“We’re seeing it whether it’s the Olympics or cricket events or the Tour de France.”

Sports match the seasons, he says. Or rather, they used to.

Normally, we’d plan our active recreation around the seasons, says McMillan: “You can go tramping at this time of year. You can go camping. Those things are really becoming disrupted.”

The issues facing major sporting events are the same ones facing the world at large: if we can make global sports more sustainable, then we’ll have some of the tools we need to set the planet on a cooler course.

What makes major sporting events so polluting?

Climate change increasingly threatens sport, yet some of the biggest sporting spectacles are helping to make the problem worse.

No event illustrates this contradiction more clearly than the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup, which has been described as potentially the most environmentally damaging sporting event in history.

The Men’s World Cup had a heavy environmental impact because it was so spread out – it took place over three enormous countries (the US, Canada, and Mexico). Most of its emissions were from travel, as fans had no option except to fly from match to match.

“So, by design, it’s massively damaging, and it’s not because it’s being mismanaged,” says McMillan.

“The more successful the tournament is, the more tourists they get in, the more travel there is, the more emissions it’s going to create.

"If the tournament flopped, it would actually be more environmentally sustainable.”

This is a new form of climate denial – it’s ‘climate deadlock’

Large sporting bodies know their events are environmentally harmful, but they’re looking the other way, says McMillan.

“FIFA and the International Olympic Committee, they have climate reports, they have carbon audits, and they acknowledge the threat this poses to humanity and to their tournaments and that they must do something – but it’s like they don’t believe their own rhetoric.”

This attitude is called ‘climate deadlock’, and it’s considered a new form of climate denial.

“They know very well that the climate is changing and that their tournaments have an impact,” says McMillan, “and yet they behave as if they don’t know.”

When sporting organisations talk about sustainability, they tend to focus on “local resource management issues,” says McMillan, such as recycling bottles, using compostable containers and considering energy sources.

“But at the same time, their reports tell you that this is not the biggest source of their emissions.

"And it’s like they just completely ignore that because it doesn’t fit in with their commercial model.”

Sports-tournament incentives are going in the wrong direction

One problem is there’s pressure on major sporting events, whether it’s the Men’s World Cup or the Olympic Games, to become bigger and bigger.

“The power lies with broadcasters wanting more events, with host venues trying to make their money back by getting more tourists in, with sponsors wanting their image shown more often,” says McMillan.

That results in more events, so broadcasters can play more content and sell more advertising, which means that organisers need to attract more tourists to recoup the costs of staging that greater number of events.

“Think of Premier League football clubs who tour Asia and South America in the pre-season and the post-season in order to maximise their money.

"The All Blacks going over to America to play. The climate impacts of these are substantial.

"They’re not being done for sporting reasons. They’ve been done to bring more money in."

But we don’t have to continue down this path of continuous growth, says McMillan.

“Sporting events haven’t always been like this. And so, there are other ways possible, but not within the model that we’re currently using.”

Are there any solutions to the impact of sports?

The Commonwealth Games offer a way forward, says McMillan: scaling down, prioritising tickets for locals, using existing infrastructure.

“So it doesn’t cost as much and it doesn’t require it to be a tourist event,” says McMillan.

“They’re using venues that are already there.”

In other words: keeping things local.

“Sure, athletes are going to have to travel. But the vast majority of aviation emissions come from tourists and spectators rather than from athletes.”

Another positive example is women’s sports, such as the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, played across New Zealand and Australia, where almost 90 per cent of attendees to New Zealand matches were locals.

“It’s not women’s sport that’s creating these [climate] issues,” says McMillan.

“It’s men’s sports that are looking for more profit.

"But so often women’s sports are looking to downsize to reduce the climate impacts – and that’s what gets scaled back rather than the men’s stuff.”

The marginalisation of women’s sports means women have been more active in challenging the profit-driven status quo, say researchers.

When FIFA signed a sponsorship deal with Aramco, the most-polluting company in history, more than 100 professional female footballers signed an open letter protesting the partnership.

What’s the way forward?

There are two paths ahead of us, says McMillan.

We could switch the time of year sports are played, or hold matches in covered stadiums and air-conditioned venues.

“But the thing with that kind of adaption is not only do you have to keep adapting, but only those with the resources can adapt,” he says.

“So, it’s one thing to put a roof over a stadium in Houston, but what does that mean for kids’ football? What does it mean for football in Ghana?"

Or we could return to how sports exist for the vast majority of people who play it, says McMillan.

“Sport can be more sustainable. There is a model that exists there.

"Kids are going and playing every week in a much more sustainable way than these big mega events.”

And that’s what gives him optimism for the future.

“There’s no sport without hope – of better results, or [the idea that] our team can win, that we can achieve these things."

Sport is naturally goal-oriented, he points out. It has the idea of improvement baked into it.

If governing bodies sought to improve their sport’s relationship to the natural environment – as well as the safety of players, and the enjoyment of fans, meaningful change could follow.

“We can hope for better – sport’s a great venue for that.”

• The world is facing unprecedented environmental challenges. Planetary Solutions, an initiative of the Sustainability Hub at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland, and Newsroom, explores these issues – and the practical ways we can all be part of the solution.