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"Reduce, reduce, reduce"
Paris 2024 foresees the emission of some 1.58 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent, a very sharp drop compared to the 3.5 million tonnes on average for the previous summer games in London (2012) and Rio (2016). ).
The expected emissions break down into three thirds: one for travel (including 25% of total emissions for spectator travel alone), another for constructions (including 25% for permanent ones) and a final third for game operations (accommodation, security, catering etc.)
The construction footprint is limited thanks to 95% reliance on existing or temporary infrastructure: unlike the much-maligned FIFA World Cup in Qatar, there is no need to build many stadiums.
The organizers are also trying to minimize the footprint of the Olympics by using electricity from renewable sources, by serving spectators "low carbon" dishes with less meat or by choosing sites connected to public transport.
"We are here to show that we can do these Games with half of the programs we used to do", indicates the director of environmental excellence of Paris 2024, Georgina Grenon.
“Within the limit of what is technically feasible in 2024, we will have made every effort to reduce, reduce, reduce”.
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Lots of compensation
"By offsetting even more CO2 emissions than those we are going to emit, we will become the first major sporting event with a positive contribution to the climate", say the organizers.
Compensation consists, for example, of financing the planting of trees that will absorb CO2.
In this case, there should countably be even more CO2 absorbed or avoided than what will be emitted during the event.
The use of these mechanisms, which are often little or badly verified, is severely criticized by UN experts.
But the organizers of the Olympic Games assure that their compensation will be very rigorous.
View of the construction site of the Olympic Village on the Saint-Denis site, north of Paris, May 23, 2022 © FRANCK FIFE / AFP/Archives
Examples include projects to preserve forests or more efficient cooking equipment in Africa, where kindling is still often used in homes.
"It is for emissions that we do not know how to reduce or avoid that we finance climate contribution projects", underlines Georgina Grenon.
"Compensation is an acceptable option," said Madeleine Orr, a professor at Britain's Loughborough University and an expert in sports ecology.
But she is more reserved on the allegation of "sustainable" games.
“Even if they do everything right, a big international event cannot be perfectly sustainable,” notes the specialist.
“The most lasting event is the one that does not take place”.
"To say that an event has a positive impact on the climate is misleading. The event itself generates greenhouse gases which are bad for the climate. The financial support of the organizers for external projects does not change this nothing," says Lindsay Otis Nilles of Carbon Market Watch.
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(Even) more sustainable Olympics?
How can we go further to reduce the environmental footprint of the next Olympics?
Researchers had advocated, in a study published in Nature in 2021, a real revolution.
"Three actions should make the Games more sustainable: drastically reduce the size of the event, rotate the Games between the same cities and implement independent standards of sustainability", they advocated.
Madeleine Orr also sketches smaller Games for the future, with fewer spectators coming from afar by plane.
"In the future there is an opportunity to reduce the size and scope of the event, which opens the door to smaller facilities and fewer hotels, less waste, etc., without eroding the experience of athletes or the show that can be broadcast by televisions around the world", she underlines.
“The world loved watching Tokyo (2021) and Beijing (2022), even without the fans”, judges the specialist.
"We can have more durable games," she concludes.
© 2023 AFP