The organisers of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games have produced an initial look back on the sustainability of the Games and it makes for impressive reading.

Energy

Paris 2024 was powered entirely by renewable energy, with all venues connected to the national electric grid.

The new grid connections will remain in place after the Games, helping reduce the footprint of future events hosted by these venues and becoming an important part of the Paris 2024 legacy.

Where they were required, generators were powered by biofuel, hydrogen, or batteries.

Venues

Some 95 per cent of the Games’ 35 competition venues were pre-existing or temporary, the latter designed in such a way as to reduce their impact on biodiversity.

The Aquatics Centre opposite the Stade de France which was used for diving, artistic swimming and Water Polo was one of only two new venues and was built using low-carbon construction methods.

Largely energy-self-sufficient thanks to the 4,680m² of solar panels on its roof, the venue boasted seats made from recycled local plastic waste, while wood was used widely in its construction to reduce emissions.

The Aquatics Centre will serve local residents long after the Games. It was strategically placed in an area which lacked sporting infrastructure and where half of 11-year-olds did not know how to swim.

Village

Also located in the heart of Seine-Saint-Denis, the Olympic Village will provide workplaces for 6,000 people and apartments for an additional 6,000 after the Games, with a quarter reserved for public housing.

Restaurants, shops, and leisure centres sprouted up around them, helping to rejuvenate an area where unemployment had stood at over 20 per cent.

Seine

The Games also served as an accelerator to clean the River Seine, with significant investment allocated for pollution remediation – with the aim of enabling all Parisians to enjoy the river from 2025 onwards. The initiative was part of the city’s future climate-resilience planning.

Food

The French capital is famed for its food, another area where Paris 2024 went all in on sustainability.
The 13 million meals being served at the Olympic and Paralympic Games produced less than half the carbon emissions of the average French meal: 1kg compared to 2.3kg.

The plant-based ingredients in these meals were doubled, while 80 percent of ingredients were sourced from local agriculture, a quarter of them within 250km of the respective venues.

Better estimates were made of the volume of ingredients needed to make these meals, helping to cut food waste. Any unconsumed food was redistributed, composted, or transformed. Single-use plastic was reduced by half at Paris 2024.

Worldwide Olympic Partner Coca-Cola installed 700 water and soft drink fountains across all Paris 2024 sites, and the organisers installed free drinking water points.

Spectators were allowed to enter all venues with their own reusable bottles, a notable exception to existing French regulations.

All catering equipment and infrastructure are being reused after the Games.

Transport

Sustainability was also a watchword when it came to transport at Paris 2024.

Visitors to the city found more than 400 km of new bike lanes, more than 80 percent of Olympic venues situated within 10km of the Olympic Village, and all venues served by public transport, with operators in the Paris region expanding standard bus, metro and train services by 15 per cent.

 

 

In partnership with SSE Airtricity, Sport for Business has created a Sustainability Leadership Group. The group will discuss areas of mutual interest and potential collaboration over the next three years.

 

Find out more and get involved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sport for Business, in partnership with Allianz, will hold the 2024 Sport for Business Sport for Social Good Conference on Thursday, October 24th, one of ten events currently planned for the remainder of 2024.

Register your interest to attend a Sport for Business event here.

 

The Sport for Business Membership comprises nearly 300 organisations, including all the leading sports and sponsors, as well as commercial and state agencies. 

Find out more about joining us today.

 

Check out our upcoming events to discover ways of connecting in person with our membership.</s