Johannesburg - The 2010 football World Cup in South Africa will have an elephantine carbon footprint compared to the 2006 Cup in Germany, the South African government said Tuesday. Environmental Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica told parliament that a feasibility study showed the football extravaganza generating 2.753 million tonnes of carbon emissions, almost 10 times that of the Germany edition, the South African Press Association reported.
"Some progress has been conducted toward processes for offsetting the footprint," Sonjica was quoted as saying.
"However, even the footprint on its own is huge in comparison to the 2006 FIFA World Cup footprint."
Sonjica said South Africa's distance from the countries that supply World Cup tourists, combined with the distance between the nine host cities, meant fans had to travel much further to see the games than in Germany.
The carbon footprint calculation takes into account energy used at the World Cup stadiums and in their construction, energy used in the accommodation sector as well as emissions caused by domestic and international travel.
The figure for Germany's World Cup carbon footprint in 2006 did not take into account air travel, Sonjica noted.
South Africa is one of the world's top per-capita emitters of the emissions that cause climate change.
The country, which gets most of its electricity from aging coal-fired power stations, has built five new and upgraded five existing stadiums for the World Cup, which is being staged in Africa for the first time.
To reduce the Cup's footprint, "at least three" of the nine host cities "have considered" the implementation of bicycle lanes for the tournament and beyond, among other measures, Sonjica said.
On Thursday, the 2010 FIFA local organizing committee and government will launch the "2010 Green Goal" programme. Started in Germany in 2006, the programmes aims to make the tournament greener.
