Paris Olympics 2024: How Sustainable Are The 'Most Sustainable Summer Games Of All Time'

The 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference commonly called the COP21 was a landmark accord adopted by nearly all countries in the world. It aimed at limiting global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, ideally to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels. (More Sports News)

The city where it was hosted, is back in focus again for reasons related to climate.

Nearly a decade after the Paris Agreement, we have the Paris Olympics. The city which hosted the landmark climate change agreement is also hosting a landmark Olympic Games.

Landmark not just because Paris will become the first city after London to host the pinnacle of world sports thrice but also because it promises to be the "most sustainable Olympics ever".

Yes. The organisers have vowed to make these Games the greenest in the event's history. Here's how they plan to do it.

The Scale of Olympics

First things first, Olympics take place at a gigantic scale. Tens of thousands of athletes and their support staff, even more volunteers and an enormous number of fans who come from across the world. The travel and food and accommodation for all of these. The best and largest of sporting facilities. It is a humongous exercise and thus emits a massive amount of Carbon.

A research paper published in the Nature worked out a model to assess the sustainability of the Olympic Games and found out no event scored in the top category.

Paris wants to change that.

The organisers in Paris have pledged to host the Olympics at half of the average Carbon emissions since 2012 London Games. Since 2012, Olympics Games have emitted an average of 3.5 million tonnes of CO2. The Paris 2024 organising committee aims to limit the emissions at 1.75 million tonnes.

How Paris Plans to Host the Greenest Olympics Ever?

Reduce, repurpose and reuse

This has been the approach to venues in Paris. Previous Olympics have spent a lot on building new infrastructure for the event. Paris has reused the one it had. Of course having Olympic-level infrastructure was an advantage but the pressure of working within the emission limit also added as a push.

95% of venues in Paris are the old ones. Even the new venues like the Aquatics Centre in Saint-Denis, have been built on the principles of sustainability.

Organisers intend to use 100% renewable power from wind and solar farms, plus solar panels on some venues.

The Games village that will be the home to over 20,000 athletes and support staff will also be used smartly. After the event's completion, the apartments in the village will become public housing.

Another value that using existing infrastructure provides is that these stadiums are well connected to public transport. So that will reduce carbon emissions as well.

Paris 2024 organisers also aim to cut Carbon emissions by increasing plant-based meals on the venues.

What do Critics Say?

Critics are still not yet fully sold on Paris' efforts. While they do think that what is Paris is trying to do is good but it is not enough as per them.

“Maybe things like the Olympics have to be reconsidered,” Seth Warren Rose of the Eneref Institute, an advocacy and research group focused on sustainable development, told AP. “Having millions of people congregate in a single area is a very intensive thing.”

Rose wants organisers to do more and reduce the emissions by half.

Critics have also pointed out that some of the sponsors for the Games are leaders in Carbon-intensive industries.

Organisers admit not everything is perfect, but they do say that they are working very hard.

“We say that sustainability is a collective sport,” Georgina Grenon, director of environmental excellence for the Paris Games tells AP. “Will everything be perfect? No, right? We cannot say that. We’re still working very, very hard to go as far as we can.”