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By Prakhar Sachdeo
CNBC-TV18.com
Published June 2, 2024
Image: AP
The surfing competitions of the 2024 Paris Olympics will be held in the Pacific waters of Tahiti. It has provoked the strongest reactions. Tahitians and others railed against the building of a new viewing tower on Teahupo'o reef because of fears it would hurt marine life.
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But Paris Olympics organisers say it wasn't just the world-class waves that lured them to the French territory 16,000 kilometres away. Paris Olympic officials had set an ambitious target of halving their overall carbon footprint compared with the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Games. Tahiti's surfing reef is too far offshore for fans to see the action clearly from the beach, so organisers say they calculated that most would watch on television instead of taking flights, a major source of carbon emissions.
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Organisers' goal is to limit emissions to 1.58 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent for the July 26-August 11 Games and Paralympics that follow. That's still a lot of pollution — equal to that of about 1.3 million economy passengers flying one way from New York to Paris on Boeing 787 jets, according to myclimate, a climate and sustainability consultancy. It's a lot less, however, than the footprint of previous Games.
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Paris and the next host, Los Angeles in 2028, were the only cities left in the race when picked in 2017. For organisers, hosting less-wasteful Games is key, along with including more inclusive, youth-oriented events such as skateboarding. Paris is under additional pressure to be a sustainable model: The city hosted the 2015 UN climate talks that resulted in the Paris Agreement, the most significant international climate accord to date.
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Delegates agreed the world should limit average global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above that of the 1850s, and ideally cap it at 1.5 degrees (2.7 Fahrenheit) — a goal looking increasingly unattainable. Independent experts say Paris appears to be decarbonising in the systematic ways businesses do: Calculate total emissions, then start cutting, including myriad small CO2 savings that add up significantly. Organisers targeted reductions across three categories: construction, transportation and operations.
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The biggest break from previous Games is in construction. Organisers say 95 per cent of facilities are existing or will be temporary. Two new structures were deemed unavoidable: The Olympic Village, to house athletes and later become housing and office space, and the aquatics centre in Paris' disadvantaged northern suburbs. Using wood, low-carbon cement, and salvaged materials helped reduce emissions by 30 per cent compared with traditional methods.
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Reductions in operations include food. The average meal in France — restaurant- or home-prepared — produces about 2 kilograms of CO2. Paris aims to halve that by sourcing 80 per cent of ingredients locally, cutting transport emissions, and offering spectators 60 per cent plant-based foods.
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Another emissions-savings source is energy. Energy will represent only 1 per cent of emissions, organisers said. They intend to use 100 per cent renewable power from wind and solar farms, plus solar panels on some venues. Stadiums and temporary venues will get power from the grid instead of diesel generators, which produce much CO2. Giant electrical plugs at venues will remain post-Games, removing the need for generators at future events.
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Paris plans to compensate – a practice called offsetting. Planting trees, for example, could help take CO2 out of the atmosphere that the Games put in. But offset markets aren't well regulated, and investigations by news organisations have found some projects to be fraudulent while others miscalculated the quantity of emissions captured. Organisers say they'll continue to adapt sustainability plans as they go, including those in Tahiti.
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“We say that sustainability is a collective sport,” says Georgina Grenon, director of environmental excellence for the Paris Games. “Will everything be perfect? No, right? We cannot say that. We're still working very, very hard to go as far as we can.”
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