Of the Olympic Games “historic for the climate.” This is the promise made by France, through the voice of the President of the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee, Tony Estanguet. The mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo has made it her main focus since the city's candidacy in 2017.

But, with 15,000 athletes, 800 sports events, 13 million meals and more than 15 million spectators expected, is organizing eco-friendly Olympic and Paralympic Games possible?

The challenge of halving the carbon footprint of the Paris Olympics compared to previous editions is immense. If concrete initiatives are indeed there, do they live up to the commitments and the climate emergency? Analysis.

What are the ecological commitments of Paris 2024?

As soon as it applied to organize the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, France has shown its ambition for ecological sobriety: Reduce by half thecarbon footprint of this great world sports festival.

The challenge is big. The London Olympics in 2012 and those in Rio in 2016 generated 3.4 and 3.6 million tons of CO2 equivalent respectively. In 2020, the absence of foreign spectators in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis caused the carbon footprint of the Tokyo Olympics to drop to 2.8 million.

To achieve its ambition, Paris 2024 has for the first time designed the carbon budget in advance of the event. The objective is specific: do not exceed 1.58 million tons of CO2.

💡 Halve the carbon footprint compared to previous editions, i.e. 1.5 million tons of CO2 maximum.
Divide the quantity of single-use plastic in half.
100% renewable energy from wind or solar produced in France.
25% of the restaurant based on local products within 250 km.
100% of certified food.
100% of sites accessible by public transport, cycling and walking.

What are the concrete initiatives to reduce the carbon footprint of the 2024 Olympic Games?

“Reduce everything that can be reduced”. The message displayed on the official Paris 2024 website is clear. To meet this challenge, the Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Cojo) has targeted four priority carbon expenditure items: construction, mobility, catering and resource management.

In each area, Paris 2024 is innovating and experimenting to anticipate the energy future.

Responsible and reused buildings

Use existing infrastructures

For the organization of more eco-responsible Games, Paris was able to count on 95% of infrastructures already built.

The athletics and rugby events take place at Stade de France. The cycling track events are organized at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome, inaugurated in 2014. The emblematic site of Roland-Garros has been known around the world since the 1930s for its tennis tournament.

The Palace of Versailles opens its doors to equestrian events. La Marseilles Marina has been adapted to sailing competitions. And all the stadiums in major French cities are ready to host soccer matches.

Recycle temporary sites

Temporary sites complete the infrastructure. Built to host cultural exhibitions during the renovation of the Grand Palais, the Grand Palais Éphémère — renamed Arena Champ de Mars — is reused for fencing.

Of demountable structures are installed on the Champ de Mars, Les Invalides and Place de la Concorde for archery, skateboarding, beach volleyball or even blind football.

All these ephemeral constructions will be dismantled and their reused, reused or recycled materials. Symbol of this circular economy: the ephemeral Grand Palais, designed from the beginning to be able to be dismantled and reassembled, or sold in pieces.

Only the Saint-Denis Aquatic Center, the Athletes' Village and the Media Village had to be built for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. At the end of the event, these infrastructures will be handed over as a “legacy” to citizens. The Athletes' Village will become an eco-neighborhood that can house 12,000 inhabitants and workers.

Building sustainable buildings

The environmental specifications for buildings are strict: do not exceed 700 kg CO2 equivalent, compared to an average of one ton.

Green roofs of the Adidas Arena and the Athletes' Village, photovoltaic roof of the Aquatic Center, 100% recycled plastic bleachers, triple glazing, low-carbon concrete and wood, refreshing floors, green areas, geothermal energy, rainwater recovery...: Paris 2024 favors innovative and responsible technologies to build resilient buildings to climate change, preserving the environment and biodiversity.

The Olympic Construction Delivery Company (Solideo) announces for the Athletes' Village a carbon footprint that is 47% lower than that of conventional construction over the entire life cycle.

Local and sustainable mobility

With a highly networked public transport network, Paris 2024 promotes local mobility. 100% of sites in Île-de-France are accessible by public transport, on foot or by bike.

To reduce travel, 30 disciplines take place within a radius of 10 kilometers around the Athletes' Village. 400 kilometers of bike path link the Olympic sites, with the exception of the Paris Nord Arena.

Of free shuttles to biogas or biofuel join the most remote sites in Île-de-France. Close to 800 electric charging stations are made available to organizers and delegations. The river transport was also used to remove waste from construction sites.

More sustainable local mobility However, does not compensate for the climate impact of air transport, ecological black spot of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Recognizing this Achilles heel, Paris 2024 is committed to offset these indirect carbon emissions. Funding has already been granted to several environmental and social projects such as the planting of a new forest in Île-de-France, the construction of photovoltaic power plants in equatorial areas or the protection of forests and mangroves in the world.

Local and organic food and catering

Over a month, more than 13 million meals will be served. To reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases, Paris 2024 is betting on a organic, local and plant-based food.

The Cojo has set ambitious goals, with 100% certified food and 80% of French origin. 25% of the products will be supplied within a radius of 250 kilometers.

The Organizing Committee also aims at doubling of the vegetable supply. And 100% of the food resources not consumed will be valued for reduce food waste.

Reduced use of energies and resources

Favoring low-carbon energy

The 2024 Olympic Games are intended to be a turning point in the use of energies during major events.

All sports infrastructures are connected to the national electricity grid, powered mainly by low-carbon nuclear energy and renewable energies. Of underground retractable electric bollards ensure the connection of temporary sites to the network.

La securing existing electrical connections limits the use of emergency diesel generators. The groups needed to cover specific and specific needs are supplied with biofuel.

Self-consumption is also being tested on a large scale. One Photovoltaic shade of 800 m² and a floating solar power plant on the Seine feed part of the delegation reception center and the meeting area between athletes and journalists.

Reducing waste

On the waste side, the Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (Cojo) is doing the hunting for single-use objects and materials, promoting thecircular economy, the mutualization, recycling and second hand.

For example, Georgina Grenon, director of environmental excellence Paris 2024, announced in 2023 that “The 42,000 chairs, 10,000 office tables, 6,000 shelves and even the 800 workstations used for the JOP will be resold second-hand, donated or recycled”.

And that should be the case with all the equipment and furniture needed to organize the event. As for products and services, they are mostly eco-designed, favoring natural materials and French manufacturing.

Another ambitious objective: Halve the quantity of single-use plastic. And since the devil is in the details, disposable tableware is forbidden and the use of reusable bottles is encouraged.

Can Olympic games really be eco-responsible?

Between sporting enthusiasm and ecological concerns, the 2024 Olympic Games divide. If the Olympic and Paralympic Games are a A vector for accelerating investments, innovations and experiments in the energy transition, can they really be “green”? The answer seems to be unequivocal.

The opinion of experts and ecologists

Impossible “green” games...

While the considerable efforts of Paris 2024 in the field of ecology are unanimously recognized, all experts and ecologists agree: organizing “green” Olympic and Paralympic Games is impossible. Even the organizers recognize this today.

The carbon neutrality objective has been abandoned. As early as 2023, Benjamin Levêque, climate and biodiversity manager at the Cojo, admitted that “it is a significant impact, but much less than what was done before”.

Of environmental blackheads tarnish the image of Eco-responsible Games: the partial concreting of the Aubervilliers industrial gardens and the La Courneuve Park in Seine-Saint-Denis, the damage to coral reefs in Tahiti for surfing events, the installation of 2,500 temporary air conditioning in the Athletes' Village, the electric flying taxis... But it is above all the airlift tens of thousands of spectators that make you cringe.

The illusion of carbon offsetting

The organization of such an event inevitably generates greenhouse gases. And The carbon offset response is not convincing.

This illusory strategy is condemned by a number of environmental associations. Two pitfalls are highlighted by the Carbon Market Watch organization: the difficulty in estimating the real impact on climate and greenhouse gas emissions of supported environmental projects, and the sometimes negative consequences on the local population and biodiversity.

Solutions for greener Olympics?

Madeleine Orr, an expert in sports ecology and professor at the British University of Loughborough, summarizes the thinking of the majority of environmental defenders: “the most sustainable event is the one that does not take place”.

Without going as far as this extreme solution, the experts put forward ideas for more sustainable Games : reduce the size of the event; alternate the organization between a few cities already equipped for the event; organize the events simultaneously in several cities around the world to favor a local audience; encourage local gatherings to vibrate together in front of screens without traveling.

Future sports competitions could be inspired byExample of the Tokyo Games behind closed doors. The absence of international spectators alone had reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 12.5%.

Balanced public opinion

In public opinion, ecology seems far behind other concerns. According to a survey conducted by IPSOS in April 2024, Indifference prevailed among the French a few months before the start of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

This result is corroborated by the survey commissioned in May 2024 by BFMTV. While 60% of those questioned recognize positive impacts on sport, tourism, the economy or France's place in the world, critics abound when it comes to talking about budget and ecology.

71% of French people denounce the exorbitant cost of the Games, estimated at nearly 12 billion euros. They are more divided on the ecological impact, considered “too important” by one French person out of two and “limited” by 22%, while 27% “do not know”.

Parisians and Francilians are the most mixed, both proud to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games and worried about the consequences on their daily lives, safety or the price of transport. Several social decisions have shocked, such as the exclusion of the poor, the requisitioning of student housing, the obligation to telework or the reservation of roads for the Olympic routes.

Are the 2024 Olympic Games “green”? The answer is undeniably no. But they should be more eco-friendly than previous editions. However, we will have to wait for the final carbon balance to verify this statement.

While Paris 2024 makes it possible to accelerate innovation in energy transition solutions, an event of such magnitude inevitably generates greenhouse gas emissions, which are difficult to offset.

What can be the future of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in a context of Global warming ? Faced with the environmental emergency, experts and environmentalists are campaigning for radical changes. In a world in turmoil, are countries ready to reinvent the Games — and more generally major sporting events — symbols of union, peace and respect?

Do you want to contribute to a more sustainable world and reduce your carbon footprint? Everyone can act at their level. SirEnergies experts are at your disposal to discuss with you the best strategy to reduce your energy consumption and better buy your energy.