Infantino flew around the world twice in a private jet

Here's what it's all about

• Gianni Infantino traveled 93,524 kilometers by private jet during the World Cup
• In the process, the FIFA president generated 813 metric tons of CO2.
• Non-governmental organizations criticize the World Cup's overall carbon footprint as devastating.

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On average, Swiss people emit 12 metric tons of CO2 each year—placing them very high on the international list. But it took Gianni Infantino less than half a day to produce that amount. That’s because, in order to attend as many World Cup games as possible, the FIFA president was constantly traveling around in a private jet.

"Der Spiegel" has now calculated that Infantino has traveled 93,524 kilometers by private jet during the tournament so far—more than twice around the world. According to the report, this resulted in 813 metric tons of CO2 emissions. And this devastating total doesn’t even include two long-haul flights to Doha, the magazine writes.

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Infantinos Privatjet als Symbol für die Masslosigkeit der FIFA

"There's never been anything like this before"

But Infantino is not alone in this: Overall, the use of private jets during the World Cup has risen dramatically; even before the tournament began, the data company WingX had forecast 73,200 additional flight movements. Private jet providers such as NetJets and Sentient Jet also reported high demand for flights to World Cup matches. “We’ve never seen anything like this before,” says aviation expert Heinrich Grossbongardt.

Even in the run-up to the World Cup in Canada, the U.S., and Mexico, environmental organizations had heavily criticized FIFA over the tournament’s carbon footprint. Greenpeace, for example, called the World Cup “the most climate-damaging in the tournament’s history.” The new format, with significantly more teams and thus more games, was cited as the main reason for this.

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