While recent editions of the Games in Tokyo, Rio and London released approximately 3.5 million tonnes of CO2, Paris has vowed to halve the emissions to 1.75 million tonnes.
Even before the cauldron was lit on the evening of July 26, and despite the shadow cast by the attempt to sabotage the country’s rail network, the 33rd Olympic Games had a clear winner — Paris 2024, which is creating history by hosting the greenest Games ever. The Games are being held as the planet reaches a tipping point. This week, temperatures soared to the highest in recorded history, 17.15 C on Monday, which broke the record set just a day before, 17.09 C on Sunday. With Paris, the Olympics is acknowledging and addressing the climate-change crisis. The world’s greatest sporting event aims to shine a light on the urgent need for change.
While recent editions of the Games in Tokyo, Rio and London released approximately 3.5 million tonnes of CO2, Paris has vowed to halve the emissions to 1.75 million tonnes. To understand how radical this step is, consider that the Tokyo games had high emissions even though it was held in 2021 and had no spectators due to the COVID-19 protocol. And the Olympics ignored decades of protests from environmental groups before the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, in 1994 decided to adopt some eco-friendly measures. Paris is recycling, reusing, reducing and relying on renewables. Olympics Games usually accompany a construction boom in the host country — Paris is setting a trend, however, by using existing buildings to host 95 per cent of the events. The construction industry is among the highest emitters of greenhouse gases, a staggering 37 per cent globally. The Athletes’ Village will generate electricity from sources such as geothermal and solar power, while stadiums, which some past Games have powered with diesel generators, will be connected to the public electricity grid. Paris is carrying forward gains made in previous Games, such as beds created from refurbished cardboard for athletes, like in Tokyo. The famous French cuisine was not known for being vegetarian until the organising committee of the Olympics announced that it was committed to serving more plant-based, sustainable and local food. With 1,000 km of cycle lanes introduced for the Games, Paris has signalled that a low-carbon lifestyle is possible, and fun.
Of course, there are stumbling blocks. There are questions over carbon emissions caused by air travel by visitors and doubts about offsetting projects. Some hurdles have been too high — the heat forced Paris to install 2,500 temporary cooling units for athletes instead of being AC-free as originally planned. But change is now part of the Games. A report, ‘Three Years of Progress: A Review of Sustainability across the 2021-2024 Olympic Cycle’, published on the day of the opening ceremony, notes that “it’s been a fast and exciting three years of change in the sports and sustainability space since Tokyo 2020… Today, nearly every sports federation has put some work into the environment sustainability agenda. We’re thrilled to report that, this time around, we’ve got something good to say about every sports federation competing in Paris 2024…” The danger is clear and visible: Mega events such as the Olympics will become unsustainable as the earth becomes warmer and large parts of it uninhabitable. The greatest race in Paris, today, is to save the planet.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
First uploaded on: 27-07-2024 at 06:35 IST
