'Greenest in history': How Paris aims to halve the Olympics' carbon footprint

The 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games are being hailed as the “greenest” in history by organizers.

Tony Estanguet, president of the organizing committee for Paris 2024, has said the Games will be "historic for the climate", a sentiment echoed by all those involved, notably Paris’s ecologically-minded Mayor Anne Hildago.

The stated aim is to reduce by more than half the carbon emitted by London 2012 and Rio 2016 – which emitted 3.4 million and 3.6 million tonnes of CO2, respectively – to under 1.5 million tonnes of CO2. This is less than Tokyo 2021, which emitted 1.9 million tonnes of CO2 despite being deprived of spectators due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

"We want to show that another model is possible and create a legacy for major sporting events. We don't claim to be perfect, but we want to show that we can do things differently," says Georgina Grenon, the environmental excellence director for Paris 2024.

In previous Games, the carbon footprint was calculated after the event wrapped up. By calculating the emissions of policy decisions before they are made and implemented, Paris has taken a different approach.

The carbon budget is divided into three distinct categories: travel (34%), construction (33%) and operations (catering, accommodation, logistics, etc. – 33%). "This dynamic is the right one, and the stated objective seems to be in line with the Paris Agreement," says Maël Besson, a specialist in environmental issues relating to sport.

Paris’s ability to use existing infrastructure for events is also driving down emissions relative to the Games’ predecessors.

Nearly all (95%) of the Olympic venues have already been built. Athletics will take place at the Stade de France (in Seine-Saint-Denis, just outside Paris city limits), cycling at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome (Yvelines), basketball at Bercy, fencing at the Grand Palais; the Champ de Mars Arena will host judo and wheelchair rugby.

File photo: Situated in front of Paris's Eiffel Tower, the Champ de Mars Arena will host the judo, wrestling and wheelchair rugby events. © Francois Mori, AP

This strategy contrasts strongly with previous Games such as Athens 2004, where costly and since-abandoned "white elephant" sites still haunt the city’s politicians.

Paris claims to be cutting edge when it comes to construction, too. Grenon says the objective is not to exceed 700kg of CO2 emissions per square meter built, compared with an average of one tonne.

Energy and pollution

Paris 2024 has embarked on a colossal energy project. The Paris 2024 Organizing Committee (COJO) hopes to connect all Olympic sites to the public electricity grid and do away with diesel electricity generation.

Today, the lighting at the Stade de France is powered by oil-fired generators. For the Olympics, these will be relegated to last-resort use, and run on biofuel instead. COJO estimates that this seemingly small measure will save as much as 13,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

Pollution is also a main focus of organizers. The COJO is applying circular economics where it can. "The 42,000 chairs, 10,000 office tables, 6,000 shelves and 800 workstations used for the Games will be recovered after the event. Three-quarters will be resold second-hand or donated, while others will be recycled or reused to manufacture other products," explains Grenon.

As for the 13 million meals that will be served, the COJO’s plans to serve plates with 25% of products sourced from within 250km of the Olympic venues and to double the number of vegetarian options available during the previous Games. "It's symbolic, given that catering accounts for just 1% of the Games' carbon budget," says Maël Besson. "But it's important, because it demonstrates best practices."

Transport, the exception that proves the rule?

Not all are convinced by these measures, however. Alexandre Joly, energy and climate expert at Éclaircies, a collective of specialists in ecological transition, criticizes the "opacity" behind the figures put forward by the COJO. "The methodology used to come up with this target of 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 has not been made public, so we don't know on what assumptions it is based," he says. "Nor do we know where we stand today with this carbon budget and what has already been consumed."

On the efforts to use existing infrastructure and reduce waste, Joly is similarly cautious. "On paper, all of these measures are very good. … We know that Paris 2024 has asked its partners to respect an ecological charter. How binding is this charter?" he asks. "We won't be able to measure the real carbon footprint until after the Games. As things stand, the impact of these measures is impossible to determine."

Other aspects of the preparations have attracted criticism from environmentalists. One example that is notable for its symbolism is the paving over of the Aubervilliers community gardens to accommodate the Olympic swimming pool.

Similarly, the construction of the media village in Seine-Saint-Denis required seven hectares of parkland to be paved over and 40-year-old trees to be felled. Both measures were seen as serious threats to biodiversity.

The big sticking point, however, is transport. Paris has made efforts to make as many event venues within a 10km radius of the Olympic Village as possible, and has ensured they are all accessible by public transport, says Joly, "but that doesn't solve the problem of transporting the millions of spectators and athletes from all over the world".

The 2022 Football World Cup in Qatar was criticized for the carbon emissions created by its spectators flying back and forth from neighbouring countries, and Joly says that the Olympics are no different.

A full understanding of spectators' origin countries will only be known when ticket sales finish at the end of 2023. In the meantime, the organizers say they want to "encourage rail travel", but have not announced any concrete measures towards this end.

"Above all, the real carbon footprint of the Games cannot be calculated without taking into account the most important emission item: transport," insists Joly.

The COJO concedes that they do not have much control over this issue.

Carbon offsetting – or 'greenwashing'?

There is also the thorny question of carbon offsetting. In May, Paris 2024 backtracked on its promise to be "the first Games with a positive contribution to the climate" – meaning to eliminate more greenhouse gas emissions than those generated by the event.

But organizers are still going ahead with carbon offsetting, a concept that is itself controversial.

The principle behind carbon offsetting is simple. After emitting greenhouse gases, a company finances a project – a tree plantation, for example – capable of removing the same quantity of the gases from the atmosphere. The practice is often criticized by environmental associations, who see it as a "greenwashing" technique, as the impact of such financing is difficult to measure.

"We only take on projects that meet the highest standards," says Grenon, referring to an international project and another in France via France's national "low-carbon label" scheme, without giving further details.

'Time to reinvent the Games'

"In the end, Paris 2024 will be the greenest model possible within the current Olympic format," sums up Besson. "I see it as a good step. Now, what we need to do is think about fundamentally reforming the Games."

Possible solutions include reducing the size of the Games, staging the competition simultaneously in several cities with a focus on local audiences, or creating "conviviality hubs" around the world to enjoy the event via giant screens. "[That's] a good option, given that the majority of spectators already get excited just when watching television!" says Joly.

"As long the Olympics remain at this scale, they won't be able to reach 100% sustainability, no matter how much effort is put into it. And this is, above all, because of the transport issue," says Joly.

"We need to get back to a reasonable scale. It's time to reinvent the Olympic Games."

This article was translated from the original version in French.