Carbon Market Watch has released a study, called "Poor tackling: Yellow card for 2022 FIFA World Cup’s carbon neutrality claim", that raises question marks over organisers’ sustainability predictions for the tournament.

Hosts Qatar and FIFA are touting this year’s showpiece event, which is due to run from November 21 to December 18, as the first-ever World Cup to be carbon neutral.

Organisers have pledged to offset all emissions.

The organisers are estimating that the World Cup will emit 3.6 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, but Carbon Market Watch argues that this "does not accurately represent the tournament’s actual footprint due to the choice of accounting approach".

Eight stadiums have been built for the event with organisers claiming they will be "water and energy efficient" and will be located close together to reduce carbon emissions.

But Carbon Market Watch claims the total footprint of the permanent venues might be "underestimated by a factor of eight" and added that "other sources of emissions could have been underestimated".

"The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar is being advertised as a 'carbon neutral' event," the report reads.

"However, our investigation of the available evidence casts serious doubts on this claim, which likely underestimates the tournament’s true emissions levels and climate impact.

"This is not a harmless exercise, as it misleads players, fans, sponsors and the public into believing that their (potential) involvement in the event will come at no cost to the climate."

The Carbon Market Watch report claims Qatar 2022 organisers’ "far-fetched" goal of reaching a net-zero carbon footprint will be achieved only through "creative accounting".

Gilles Dufrasne, author of the Carbon Market Watch report, believes the carbon neutrality claim is "simply not credible".

"Despite a lack of transparency, the evidence suggests that the emissions from this World Cup will be considerably higher than expected by the organisers, and the carbon credits being purchased to offset these emissions are unlikely to have a sufficiently positive impact on the climate," added Dufrasne.

The Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy for Qatar 2022 has hit back at the report, insisting it is "on track" to delivering its carbon-neutral promise.

"The methodology used to calculate the carbon-neutral commitment is best in practice and was designed to be based on actual activity data, after the World Cup has concluded," a spokesperson for the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy for the Qatar 2022 told the BBC.

"This will be published, and any discrepancies will be explained and offset.

"No other country has engaged so deeply with its citizens to ensure a sustainable legacy is left behind after a FIFA World Cup."

The full report from Carbon Market Watch can be read here.