Green ministries apparently want a climate surcharge on tickets

It's supposed to be a party, a welcome change from the controversial desert tournament in Qatar or the gigantic 11-state European Championship 2021. The European Championship 2024 in our own country is slowly casting its shadow. But the first potential for conflict is looming. The climate balance of the tournament is discussed - and the resulting measures that the fans could obviously also take.

According to a report by "Business Insider", politicians - specifically the Greens-led Ministries of Economics (Robert Habeck) and Environment (Steffi Lemke) - are planning to persuade the DFB and Uefa to reduce all emissions of greenhouse gases during the tournament to compensate. A study commissioned by the Ministry of the Environment comes to 490,000 tons of CO₂, a large part caused by the traffic of fans arriving and departing.

And this is exactly where the measures come in, according to the government files on which the “Business Insider” bases its report. In order to get the compensation amount between twelve and 48 million euros, the climate costs should apparently be allocated to the ticket prices according to the proposal of the two ministries. Spectators could then pay up to twelve euros more for their tickets. Other possible starting points are a "climate sponsor" or payments from the EM proceeds.

EURO 2024 GmbH, a joint venture between the DFB and Uefa, which is responsible for the tournament, is still keeping a low profile on the subject. Recently it was said in media reports that the ticket prices are based on those of previous tournaments. At the EM 2020, a ticket for a preliminary round game in Munich cost between 50 and 185 euros. It will only be certain in a few months whether the prices will shift upwards after all. Traditionally, the ticket prices are set in summer one year before the tournament starts and the first tickets are sold. The opening game will take place on June 14, 2024 in Munich.

DFB and Uefa had already announced that they wanted to compensate for unavoidable CO₂ emissions during the tournament. According to “Business Insider”, this only applies to athletes and officials. Compensation for fans would be a novelty. However, there is still no consensus in the federal government on the subject. Above all, the question of feasibility is hotly debated.