FRANKFURT, Germany, March 31: Always keen to show off its green credentials, Germany promised Monday the most environmentally friendly World Cup finals yet when football’s elite compete at the 2006 tournament here.

An agreement signed between the government and World Cup organisers sets a series of goals to reduce the impact on the environment of staging one of the world’s biggest sporting events.

The targets are in four areas — water, waste, energy and transport — with the overall aim of reducing usage by some 20 percent.

It would mean, for instance, that organisers would invest in environmental protection to make up for the extra greenhouse gases produced by the event.—AFP