It goes without saying that tomorrow, June 11, 2010, literally
kicks off the FIFA 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The media has
been throwing around stories on projected winners, South
Africa’s history in the making and even possible flu outbreaks
from vuvuzelas. Fans around the world wait in anticipation;
meanwhile in South Africa, staff from the Global Environment
Facility (GEF), the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)
and the South African Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA)
are trying to meet an ambitious “green” goal. According to a
UNEP-GEF press release, the long-term initiative has three main
goals: “renewable energy interventions in six World Cup host
cities, an awareness-raising drive on green tourism both funded
by GEF and a UNEP program to offset the carbon emissions of
eleven World Cup teams.” The 2006 FIFA World Cup hosted in
Germany managed to achieve the first carbon-neutral tournament
in the history of the event. An article in Frontiers in Ecology
and the Environment reported that