Saudi Aramco spends over $1bn on ‘sportswashing’ deals, new report says

Saudi state oil company Aramco is spending almost $1.3 billion to sponsor global sporting events, a report by the New Weather Institute has said.

The UK-based think tank found that Aramco was the biggest single investor in sports sponsorship, with an estimated $757.6 million invested in football, $495.7 million in motorsport, $56 million in cricket, and $35.9 million in golf.

Aramco is currently the world’s most profitable company, raking in $231 billion for 2023.

The oil giant is one of the world’s largest emitters of corporate greenhouse gases, estimated to be responsible for over 5 per cent of global emissions from 2016 – 2022.

Saudi Arabia has been accused of ‘sportswashing’ — a term used to describe when sporting events are used to improve a country's reputation. In this case, Saudi Aramco is accused of using sports to distract the world from its high use of fossil fuels.

Aramco’s investment does not include the sums that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is spending separately on sports.

“If Saudi Aramco were a country, it would have the 5th largest emissions (behind China, the US, India and Russia),” the report says.

Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, including the UAE, Qatar, and Bahrain, have invested in bringing major sporting stars to the region, including Cristiano Ronaldo, who serves as an ambassador for both Saudi Arabian football and the country itself and joined the Riyad-based football club Al Nassr.

Saudi Arabia is set to host the FIFA World Cup in 2034. Aramco was unveiled as FIFA’s “Major Worldwide Partner” in a deal worth a reported $100 million a year and announced a sponsorship deal with Concacaf, the governing body for football in North and Central America and the Caribbean.

Aramco’s chairman, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, is also chairman of Golf Saudi, president of the Saudi Gold Federation, and chairman of the English football club Newcastle United.

The energy giant also signed a long-term sponsorship deal with Formula 1 and a partnership with Aston Martin Racing, which will prolong the use of fossil fuels in the team’s engines.

The report also notes Saudi’s record of undermining global efforts to tackle the climate crisis by lobbying to remove anti-fossil fuel language and acknowledging climate change from key agreements and statements.

The Gulf state has also launched a bid to host the Summer Olympic Games in 2036.