SC collaborates with HBKU to improve air quality of FIFA World Cup 2022 stadiums

Qatar has been working above and beyond to deliver an unmatched fan experience of the world’s most popular football tournament in 2022.

Eight stadiums will host matches during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. Three of those venues – Khalifa International, Al Janoub, and Education City – have already been unveiled, with the remaining five sets to be completed long before the tournament kicks off on November 21, 2022.

Approximately 1.5 million fans from around the world are expected to make their way to Qatar for the FIFA World Cup 2022.

At the heart of delivering a safe, healthy, and engaging fan experience is ensuring that there are mechanisms in place to monitor air quality in the build-up to and during Qatar 2022.

To better understand the baseline air quality near the FIFA World Cup 2022 stadiums, the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC) has launched a pilot project with Hamad Bin Khalifa University’s (HBKU) Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute (QEERI) to collaborate and exchange knowledge about how to better monitor air quality in relation to Qatar 2022 activities. This includes the installation of an initial QEERI Air Quality Monitoring Station (AQMS) at Al Thumama Stadium.

This station will continuously measure air quality, including gases such as ozone, nitrogen oxides, methane, as well as particulate matter, and meteorological parameters including temperature, wind speed, and direction in high-time resolution.

Installing AQMS stations also forges collaborative bonds between researchers and national stakeholders by collecting reliable data that will help quantify the impact of air quality on the environment, energy, and health systems in the country. This will create a national legacy built around data and form a repository of knowledge about local air quality.

“Stadiums are the heart of any football tournament. They are where the most cherished of memories are created, and to honor this humanistic component of them, we have built all of our stadiums with long-term sustainability and environmental management as core concepts, including dust management principles to ensure better air quality,” said SC Sustainability & Environment Senior Manager, Eng. Bodour Al Meer.

“To ensure tangible and credible sustainability outcomes, our collaboration with QEERI on will provide us with the necessary data to make sure that we are making the best decisions possible to improve the air quality in and around stadiums,” added Al Meer.

Mohammed Ayoub, QEERI’s Senior Research Director of the Environment and Sustainability Center, said: “Good air quality is critical to a community’s health and productivity. Our partnership with the SC focuses on understanding the quality of the air in and around FIFA World Cup 2022 venues, assessing its potential impact on participants, and developing a range of solutions to manage air quality throughout the tournament.”

For its part, QEERI aims to be a leader in Qatar in the fields of environment and energy and to become a science and technology reference in these fields at a national, regional, and international level. The vision of QEERI is to be at the forefront of science and technology efforts within these areas.

Check out the ten key facts which highlight the sustainable features of Qatar's stadiums.

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Source and Cover Image Credit: Road To 2022