Most of the people in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu have never had the chance to see a professional soccer match. Soccer World Cup organizing committee president and former soccer phenomenon Franz Beckenbauer is by no means a household name in South Asia, and it's no wonder in the cricket-crazy nation. Yet, some 700 households in Tamil Nadu are the first direct beneficiaries of next year's World Cup in Germany.

In cooperation with the "Green Goal" campaign, whose aim is to make next year's biggest sports spectacle as environmentally friendly as possible, the German Soccer Association (DFB) is investing 500,000 euros ($625,000) in an innovative project to give families in the South Asia access to safer energy supplies.

At the center of the "Family Clean Energy Packages" aid program are biogas cookers, which are intended to aid the tsunami-devastated region. In Tamil Nadu, cooking food is often done in small houses or huts on open fires using kerosene or wood, subjecting people there to great health risks and harming the environment.

"We were determined to meet two targets: contributing to environmental protection, but also alleviating the devastating effect of the tsunami on ordinary people. We are genuinely enthusiastic about this project as it meets both our targets at a fundamental level," said World Cup organizing committee member Horst R. Schmidt.

Getting the UN on board

Because soccer and the environment don't fit together like two peas in a pod, Green Goal initiative leaders enlisted Klaus Töpfer (photo, below), the German-born United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) chief, to lend weight to their eco-friendly aims.

"This is the first time that the world's leading sports event -- the FIFA World Cup -- has incorporated environmental considerations in the preparation and staging of its games," Töpfer commented. "There is an increasing realization by organizers of major sports events that they must seriously integrate the impact of their events on the environment."

The World Cup organizers are aiming for "climate neutral" finals, in which the emissions created during the last round of the championship are neutralized by reductions, both in Germany and around the world. Of the estimated 100,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions expected during the World Cup, in June and July 2006, the decreased emissions in the Tamil Nadu project could make up for one-third.

Additional income sources for region

Besides protecting the environment, the Tamil Nadu project is also meant to provide an economic boost to the region. Local companies are expected to build facilities for converting cow dung into biogas, which, after pipes are laid, will guarantee a steady supply to the 700 households involved in the project.

Furthermore, the homes will be partially renovated to ensure that the families can safely use their biogas cooking plates. Finally, the program hopes to provide the hardest-hit families with cows so they will be generate income by selling milk.

In addition to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from kerosene and wood burning, the project will also afford some protection to local forests, which villagers will no longer have to cut down to cook their food.

Schmidt said he was hopeful that the biogas cooker project would attract other organizations to participate in the Green Goal initiative. After all, he said, the 2006 World Cup should leave behind a lasting legacy -- and not just in Germany.