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- 🥇The Green Games: Paris Takes the Gold for Sustainability!
🥇The Green Games: Paris Takes the Gold for Sustainability!
The Olympic Games have notoriously made negative environmental impacts on the surrounding cities and their residents. For the 2024 Olympic Games, Paris set the goal of halving greenhouse gas emissions compared to previous Games. We’re diving into how they did this and what its impact could be on future Olympic Games.
— Written by Camryn Kirk
The Paris Olympics Climate Goals
The Paris Olympics were the most sustainable Olympic Games in recent history. How did they do it? Paris had two sustainability goals for these Games, the first was a reduction of emissions from Olympic-related activities, and the second was supporting carbon avoidance and capture projects.
🥇Goal #1: Reduce emissions from Olympic-related activities.
How? Paris 2024 incorporated sustainable climate solutions into many aspects of planning their Games such as construction, energy, catering, and transportation.
Result:
95% of Paris’s infrastructure used for the Olympics either already existed or was temporarily built. This reduced emissions for the Olympic Athlete Villages by 30%. Overall smarter construction choices reduced the building life cycle carbon footprint by 47%. 🏗️
In terms of energy, all venues were connected to an electricity grid instead of diesel generators which severely cut emissions.
To make for a more sustainable dining experience, Paris 2024 served double the amount of plant-based meals and halved their single-use plastic consumption. 🌱🍴
Transportation options for the Games included public options, bicycle facilities, and increased options for electric vehicles. 🚲🚊
🥇Goal #2: Support carbon avoidance and capture projects.
How? Paris 2024 created programs for avoiding and capturing carbon emissions to offset Games-related emissions. Paris 2024 has financed 4 forestry projects to restock degraded forests and create new forests.
Result: A new forest (1,340 ha total) will be planted in the Ile-de-France, as well as three repopulation forestry projects in three areas of France, Montmorency, the Vosges, and the Aisne. One of the main goals for these projects is to diversify tree species. 🌲🌳
Photo by Luca Dugaro on Unsplash
What Happens After Paris 2024?
As we’ve seen with many Olympic Games, the venues used during different events are often abandoned and no longer maintained, creating visual and physical blights. To combat this issue, 95% of the infrastructure used by Paris 2024 already existed or was only temporary. Paris 2024 has also claimed that the temporary infrastructure installed will be reused, recycled, or repurposed.
The famous Olympic and Paralympic Village will be rebuilt into a sustainable city region. Paris 2024 claims it will provide almost 12,000 people a place to live and or work. Paris 2024 is using ways to make the region sustainable through public green spaces and geothermal energy.
The final assessment of how the Paris Games impacted the environment will be published in the Fall of 2024, including detailed data from the overall event.
What Does This Mean For LA 2028?
The impact of the 2024 Paris Games will outlast the medal count result through creative climate city planning and innovative sustainability solutions. This execution will leave a positive impact on the Olympic Games to come, specifically pushing these future hosts towards climate-centric thinking.
To make the 2028 Summer Olympics Games as sustainable as Paris, Los Angeles will have many hurdles (pun intended). LA is known for its car culture, and the sprawling nature of the city with relatively poor public transportation are big obstacles. LA has significantly less transit ridership (1/10 of Paris) and transit vehicles (1/4 of Paris). LA also has 2x the population of Paris. It will be interesting to see how creative climate solutions come into play here! 🚗🚙
As we’ve learned from Paris 2024, planning is crucial. LA28 has already developed three groups to focus on accelerating sustainability. A few organizations involved in sustainability advising LA28 include Heal the Bay, Climate Resolve, Players for the Planet, and Liberty Hill Foundation. LA28 has big shoes to fill after Paris 2024’s sustainability efforts but we hope that the entertainment capital of the world’s Cinderella will have the perfect fit.
🤔💭Want to learn more? Check out these resources:
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The Climate Film Festival
The Climate Film Festival is a new cultural organization with an annual festival, year-round programming, and digital resources in New York City. It was founded in 2023 by a group of passionate climate professionals, artists, and curators. CFF soft-launched in 2023 with a sold-out “First Look” screening and panel event during Climate Week NYC, and it has continued to organize screenings and events with partners throughout the city. Get tickets here.