Over the past couple of decades, Qatar has been witnessing fast-paced development in every field and in the last few years after Qatar won the bid to host the FIFA World Cup 2022, the pace of development gathered more steam and the country was undergoing rapid progress in infrastructure facilities such as wider roads, a state-of-the-art metro system, new world-class stadiums, communications networks, changes in road transport sector etc to name a few.
When all these groundbreaking changes have been taking place, Qatar has been keen on protecting the environment and contributing to the fight against climate change in numerous ways, whether inside the country, in the region or the world over. Sustainability is one of the major pillars of Qatar National Vision 2030. After the country embarked on a sustainability journey a few years back, there was no looking back.
With less than two years till the start of the world football carnival, the sustainability journey has become faster, aggressive and challenging. In 2022, Qatar will set a record and an imitable event by hosting the world’s first carbon-neutral FIFA World Cup. The country will deploy over 1,100 electric buses to transport spectators to different stadiums and back. Speaking at an event recently, Director of Tarsheed and Energy and Efficiency at Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa), Abdulaziz Ahmed Al Hammadi said that about 700 electric vehicle charging stations will be set up to meet the demand for the electric buses. This is just one part of the efforts to make the Football World Cup a carbon-neutral event.
The sustainability efforts are not exclusively for the World Cup, but these will be just a harbinger of more measures to materialise the dream of making the whole world carbon-free with zero emissions of greenhouse gases. After the Word Cup, the electric buses will be used for public transport in the country.
The authorities are taking all measures to make the country an electric vehicle-friendly one. Qatar has already installed some 20 car charging stations at different locations such as Kahramaa main building, Kahramaa building in Abu Hamour, Qatar Foundation and at some malls. Motorists are encouraged to embrace the culture of carbon-free travel by adopting electric vehicles. A report by Boston Consulting Group published earlier this year found that 55 percent of Qatar’s consumers have reaffirmed their preparedness to incorporate more sustainable actions into their daily lives.
By making a major world event like the Football World Cup carbon-free, Qatar will add one chapter in the world’s sustainability history, which will prompt and encourage other countries to reduce the rate of harmful gas emissions while hosting massive events.
