Believing in the responsibility of major international sports events to address environmental and climate challenges, Paris 2024 established an ambitious strategy from the start of its bid to reduce the impact of organising the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Overall, Paris 2024 succeeded in reducing the carbon footprint of the Games by 54.6% compared with the average for London 2012 and Rio 2016, with a carbon footprint calculated at 1.59 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
From the start of its bid, Paris 2024 set itself the ambitious target of halving the carbon footprint of the Games compared with the average for London 2012 and Rio 2016. To set this target, Paris 2024 chose to take into account all the event’s carbon emissions, both direct and indirect, including spectator travel.
Excluding Tokyo 2020, which was held without spectators, the average carbon footprint of recent editions of the Games was 3.5 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
In order to keep the carbon footprint of the Games below 1.75 million teqCO2, Paris 2024’s approach broke away from that of other major sports events: moving from a post-event carbon assessment with offsetting actions to defining a target and a strategy for reducing the carbon impact before the Games.
To control, reduce and estimate its carbon emissions throughout the preparation of the Games, Paris 2024 set up a dedicated climate team within the Committee, supported by experts from the Comité pour la transformation écologique des Jeux [Committee for the Ecological Transformation of the Games].
Paris 2024 was also supported by independent expert firms trained in the Bilan Carbone® method, and developed a method and calculation tool containing almost 10,000 pieces of data.
Having compiled the data from the event, Paris 2024 has achieved its target, with the carbon footprint of the Olympic and Paralympic Games recorded at 1.59 million teqCO2, a reduction of 54.6% compared with the average for London 2012 and Rio 2016.
Achieving the carbon target was made possible by implementing measures to avoid, reduce and control impacts in all areas of the organisation: construction, operations and travel.
CONSTRUCTION
To limit the carbon emissions associated with new construction, Paris 2024 chose to rely on existing or temporary infrastructure. As a result, only one competition venue (the Olympic Aquatics Centre) and two “living” venues (the Athletes’ Village and the Media Village) were built specially for the Games, then left as legacies to meet the development needs of the regions. Solideo also made use of low-carbon construction techniques (notably wood framing, low-carbon concrete and recycled materials), which, for example, reduced emissions by 30% per square metre built in the Athletes’ Village. In addition to the efforts made for the Games, the legacy of the Village should generate further reductions in emissions: over the entire life cycle of the buildings, Solideo estimates that the carbon impact is expected to be 47% lower than for a conventional operation.
As far as temporary infrastructure is concerned, Paris 2024 gave priority to renting infrastructure such as the 200,000 stand seats installed for the Games and then dismantled at the end of the competitions. The principles of pooling resources and eco-design guided the production of the equipment that had to be manufactured: 40% of the spectator areas were built from wood. Le guide d’éco-conception des infrastructures temporaires [the eco-design guide for Paris 2024’s temporary infrastructure] is available to event organisers as a legacy.
The construction sector thus accounts for 29% of the overall carbon footprint of the Games, as predicted by the Paris 2024 models, confirming the relevance of a delivery model that favours existing and temporary infrastructures.
OPERATIONS
Significant gains were made in the operations category, which in the end, accounted for only 18% of the overall carbon footprint instead of the one-third initially estimated. Efforts were made in all areas specific to the delivery of the Games, in particular:
Energy: With Enedis, Official Supporter of the Games, the temporary and existing venues were connected to the electricity grid, to limit the need for the diesel generators usually used for events. In total, 98.4% of Paris 2024’s needs were covered by electricity from the grid, all of which was produced in France and certified as being of renewable origin (solar and wind) by EDF, Premium Partner of the Games of Paris 2024. The success of this change of model will enable us to move towards less carbon-intensive event operations, and the event electricity terminals installed by Enedis in Paris and in certain Terres de Jeux communities could be used to supply electricity for future events.
Catering: To reduce the carbon impact of Games catering, Paris 2024 and its partners Carrefour, Sodexo Live!, Danone and Garden Gourmet increased the proportion of plant-based food on offer. As the nutritional habits and needs of athletes are specific, Paris 2024 focused on catering for the other populations at the Games: 40% of the meals consumed by the public were vegetarian (two times more than at an event with a “classic” catering offer) and the target of 1kg teqCO2 per meal was reached for the Games workforce.
Digital: Significant reductions in the volume and size of digital equipment were achieved between 2020 and 2023, with notably 29% fewer televisions and 28% fewer printers than initially estimated. To reduce the purchase of new equipment as much as possible, Paris 2024 opted to rent more than 75% of its equipment. With SCC, Official Supporter of Paris 2024, 100% of the equipment purchased was recovered and given a second life through reconditioning or re-use. The main software and apps used for the Games, such as the Paris 2024 and Club Paris 2024 websites, the ticketing platform and the Games mobile app for the public, were developed using eco-design best practices such as reducing the weight of images and choosing static rather than animated content.
TRAVEL
Initially estimated to account for one-third of the carbon emissions of the Games of Paris 2024, travel ultimately represented 53% of the overall carbon footprint. The proportion of the Games’ carbon footprint actually accounted for by spectator travel could only be established after the Games, using two key pieces of data: an estimate of the number of “unique spectators” and their origin associated with a means of transport (France, medium-haul flights, long-haul flights). For example, an international spectator arriving on a long-haul flight has an impact around 1,000 times greater than that of a person from the Paris region.
With 12.1 million tickets sold, a new all-time record, the Games of Paris 2024 welcomed more spectators than initially estimated, and in particular more non-European spectators. According to estimates, the Games of Paris 2024 welcomed nearly 2.8 million unique spectators, 72.5% of whom came from France, 19.5% from Europe (1. United Kingdom, 2. Germany, 3. Belgium) and 8% from the rest of the world (1. United States, 2. Brazil, 3. Canada). As far as the athletes are concerned, Paris 2024 called on the delegations that were able to do so to contribute to its climate objective by favouring less carbon-intensive modes of transport to get to France: athletes from Germany, Belgium, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Switzerland chose to travel by train.
As for transporting spectators from their accommodation to the venues during the Games, all the competition venues had been chosen to be served by public transport, and the venues in the Ile-de-France region were accessible by bicycle thanks to 415 km of cycle paths, combined with 27,000 temporary bicycle parking spaces with a security service. According to an online survey of 100,000 spectators carried out by the DIJOP [Interministerial Delegation to the Olympic and Paralympic Games], 87% of them used public transport or active modes of transport (bicycle, scooter, walking) to get to the events. To meet the needs of the accredited populations, the light vehicles made available by Toyota, Worldwide Partner of the Games, were electric, hybrid or hydrogen-powered from renewable sources. The number of light vehicles was also reduced by 37% compared to London 2012 thanks to a better sharing of vehicles, the use of public transport and “Transport Connect”, the new shuttle bus system set up by Paris 2024 in conjunction with the IOC and the IPC.
Paying for the Balance
Paris 2024 is completing its programme of support for carbon avoidance and capture projects in a volume commensurate with the emissions that could not be avoided, i.e. 1.59 million teqCO2.
On the international level, Paris 2024 is contributing €11.5 million to the roll-out of nine climate projects, all located near the equator, one of the areas hardest hit by climate change. To sequester or avoid 1.575 million teqCO2, these projects meet the highest international certification standards (Gold Standard and VCS) and offer large-scale transformations:
- Provision of tens of thousands of cooking systems and improved access to water in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya and Rwanda
- Implementation of 20MW photovoltaic power plants in Senegal and 50MW ones in Vietnam
- Protection of thousands of hectares of forest from deforestation in Guatemala and Kenya, and restoration of a mangrove swamp in Senegal.
In addition, Paris 2024 has opted to finance projects in France through the Low Carbon Label, where they are still rare. This programme, worth nearly €600,000, will fund the sequestration of 14,500 teqCO2 in France, through four forestry projects:
- A project for a new forest (1,340 ha in total) on the Plaine de Pierrelaye-Bessancourt in the Île-de-France region;
- Three projects to restock degraded forests, at Montmorency (15 km from the Stade de France), in the Vosges and in the Aisne.
Games with a more circular and environmentally-friendly model
As well as reducing its carbon footprint, Paris 2024 also committed to delivering Olympic and Paralympic Games with a more circular and environmentally-friendly model.
Paris 2024 carried out an unprecedented assessment of the volume and nature of its assets with the aim of reducing and pooling resources and controlling their life cycle, before, during and after the Games.
As a result, 90% of the six million assets required for the Games (sports equipment, uniforms, symbolic objects, etc.) were rolled out, then taken back by the Games’ partners and suppliers to give them a second life. The remaining 10% were donated or resold through various schemes offered by Paris 2024: sports equipment purchased with the financial support of the Agence National du Sport (ANS) was donated to associations and clubs in the French sports movement; 480,000 items found a second life at Games auctions; 75,000 items of equipment were rolled out and then recovered by partners RGS and Airweave, to be donated to Emmaüs and Emmaüs Défi, with the logistical support of the CMA CGM Foundation; and more than 450 orders were placed by professionals or associations on the secondevie.paris2024.org platform.
This work to identify second-life solutions is part of an overall approach to waste reduction driven by Paris 2024. In the catering sector, for example, the need to offer food on such a large scale, in sufficient quantities and without stock shortages, was a real challenge in the fight against food waste. Paris 2024 collected 300 tonnes of food products to redistribute 600,000 meals to people in need, with the help of the Fédération Française des Banques Alimentaires [French Food Bank Federation], Les Restos du Cœur and Le Chaînon Manquant.
Paris 2024 also made the reduction of single-use plastic one of the major thrusts of its circular economy and more responsible catering strategy. The drinks distribution model put in place by Paris 2024 and Coca-Cola, Worldwide Partner of the Games, made it possible to halve (-52%) the quantity of single-use plastic compared with the Games of London 2012 by iso-volume distributed, as per Paris 2024’s promise. According to a survey of 1,000 spectators, 80% of them took advantage of the opportunity to bring and fill their personal water bottles at the free water fountains installed by Paris 2024, thus contributing to the reduction in the use of single-use plastic. In absolute terms, the reduction is even -70% thanks to the possibility for spectators to bring and fill their water bottles at the free water fountains installed by Paris 2024.
Thanks to the eco-design of the products and services offered, the use of standardised sorting systems with CITEO and the host communities, and the behaviour of the Games public encouraged by the “Better Together / Faire Mieux Ensemble” communications campaign created by Paris 2024 and rolled out on a massive scale, waste production was reduced by 60% compared with London, and over 78% of the waste produced during the operational phase of the Games was recovered or avoided (compared with London 2012 in terms of avoidance).
With a concept of Games in the heart of the city organised thanks to temporary infrastructures, Paris 2024 and its stakeholders worked to enhance heritage while minimising the environmental impact on the venues. For example, nearly 1,700 tree protectors were installed, more than a thousand of them in central Paris alone; nearly 140,000 m² of ground protection, the equivalent of 20 rugby pitches, were laid; self-positioning buoys, i.e. buoys that do not anchor to the seabed, were used at the Marina de Marseille venue to protect Posidonia meadows in the Mediterranean; and 5.6 km of habitat protection lines were installed, including 3 km at the Elancourt Hill venue alone, to mark out 67 areas to be protected. To help take greater account of biodiversity in sport, Paris 2024 also chose to support the work of the French League for the Protection of Birds (LPO) and its programme to help those involved in sport and local authorities take greater account of biodiversity.
Future Legacy
Paris 2024 endeavoured to make the Games a laboratory for the ecological transformation of major events. By working with its ecosystem, and in particular its public and private partners and suppliers, Paris 2024 tested solutions and learnt lessons that could inspire other event organisers.
Among the main findings left to organisers of Major International Sports Events (MISE), the definition of carbon objectives prior to the event has, for example, been one of the keys to mobilising an ecosystem of very different players (Paris 2024 teams, public stakeholders, private partners and suppliers). The decision to rely on existing and temporary infrastructure to limit new construction of facilities that meet local development needs has also proved to be a model for delivering Games that are less carbon-intensive and more respectful of the environment. Finally, the anticipation and dissemination of a more responsible approach across all the organisation’s business lines enabled the actions to avoid, control and reduce the event’s impact on the climate and the environment to achieve significant results.
After the Games, Paris 2024 is also leaving a range of tools available to organisers of events of all sizes. Documents such as the guide to responsible events, the eco-design guide for packaging produced in collaboration with Citeo and the eco-design guide for communications media are all tools to help the many players in the events industry to adopt more responsible practices.
In addition, Paris 2024, with the support of the Ministry for Sport and the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and the CNOSF, in collaboration with ADEME, have developed the Coach Climat évènements [Events Climate Coach], a free tool accessible to all organisers for more responsible events. Like a sports coach, the tool draws up a personalised programme based on around a hundred possible concrete actions to help organisers reduce the carbon footprint of their event. By 1 October 2024, 1,350 events had committed to reducing their impact, 464 carbon footprints had been estimated and more than 160 action plans had been saved, generating an average 21% reduction in emissions per event.
“For almost 10 years, Paris 2024 has been pursuing this ambition, and we have achieved it: to offer Games for a new era, that are more responsible and just as spectacular,” said Tony Estanguet, President of the Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024.
“Everywhere,we have sought to do with less, to do better and to leave a useful legacy to reduce the impact of the world’s biggest event on the environment and the climate. With the commitment of the entire Games ecosystem, the IOC and IPC, public and private partners, our suppliers, spectators and athletes, we have worked to find solutions to deliver more responsible Games at every level. From now on, we have only one wish: that the momentum of the more responsible Games of Paris 2024 continues and that events organisers draw inspiration from our experience to do even better.”
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With its actions to promote the circular economy and protect the environment, Paris 2024 is leaving behind an organisational model and tools to inspire the organisation of even more responsible events, obviously at the largest level but with many lessons to be learned in other areas of sport as well..
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With its actions to promote the circular economy and protect the environment, Paris 2024 is leaving behind an organisational model and tools to inspire the organisation of even more responsible events, both in France and internationally.
