This summer’s World Cup will be unlike any other in the 96-year history of the world’s most popular sporting event. Never before have players on the field and spectators in the stands faced the intensity of heat expected to confront them in the matches taking place, which started with last week's opener between Mexico and South Africa. The extra heat is due in no small part to rising global temperatures driven by burning fossil fuels, making the 2026 World Cup not just a sports story, but a climate one, too.

Game-time temperatures at many of the host venues in the US and Mexico are projected to be higher than during any previous World Cup, according to new scientific studies. This includes the 2022 World Cup, which was hosted by Qatar, where the desert heat was offset by shifting the tournament from summer to winter and holding matches in air-conditioned stadiums. Climate change has increased the number of extremely hot summer days in 14 of the 16 cities hosting matches during the 2026 Cup, the scientific nonprofit Climate Central found. Perhaps most at risk is Miami, which “now experiences roughly two additional weeks of extreme June and July heat compared to the 1970’s,” Climate Central’s Ben Tracy reports.

In anticipation of the exceptional heat,........

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