The organising committee of Paris 2024 has vowed to make it the greenest Games in Olympic history, with half the carbon footprint of London 2012 and Rio 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
London 2012 had an projected carbon footprint of 3.3m tonnes, while Rio 2016 had a total estimated footprint of 3.6m tonnes of carbon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2024 Games will be held in the same city where world leaders met in 2015 to sign a number of commitments to prevent global temperatures increasing by more than 1.5C and there will be lots of attention on sustainability efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From tables made out of shuttlecocks to plant-based menus, Paris 2024 have announced a number of creativities that they claim will help them reach their targets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In an exclusive interview, Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), told BBC Sport that sustainability is an issue \u201cvery close\u201d to his heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bach said that climate change represents an \u201cextremely serious threat, not only for sport, but for all our lives,\u201d adding, \u201cthis is why, with our Olympic agenda reforms; we undertook to tackle these issues by focusing on reducing our footprint.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Existing stadiums, not new buildings<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Earlier London 2012, six new stadiums were built. Rio built 10 permanent new sites and seven temporary ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of the 35 stadiums housing events at Paris 2014, only two will be new and purpose-built \u2013 an aquatics centre and an arena for badminton and rhythmic gymnastics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The organiser\u2019s right these will be built using \u201clow-carbon construction methods\u201d. The aquatic centre will include seats made from \u201crecycled local plastic waste\u201d, with wood used throughout construction<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cardboard beds and tables from shuttlecocks<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The beds in the athletes\u2019 village at Tokyo 2020 were built using recycled cardboard and went viral when American runner Paul Chelimo claimed on social media they were \u201caimed at avoiding intimacy among athletes\u201d because they would collapse under the weight of more than one person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That claim was debunked and the same manufacturer is also as long as the beds for Paris 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also in the athletes\u2019 area, there will be \u201ccoffee tables made from recycled shuttlecocks, poufs from parachute canvas and chairs from recycled bottle tops\u201d, according to organisers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Double the amount of plant-based food<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n As well as promising to double the proportion of plant-based ingredients obtainable to spectators and the workforce compared to London 2012 and Rio 2016, the organising committee for the Games has also assured to source 80 per cent of ingredients from \u201clocal agriculture production\u201d in order to reduce transport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Place de la Concorde, which will host urban sports, will wholly serve vegetarian food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With a food culture synonymous with beef bourguignon and steak tartare, the move towards plant-based food is a significant one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Electric v diesel<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n At previous Games, some stadiums had to rely on diesel generators for power. Paris organisers have instead promised to focus on connecting stadiums to the public electricity network. Those connections will also last beyond the Games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Commission for a Maintainable London 2012 found in a report following those Games that the Olympic Broadcasting Service (OBS) had engaged in \u201cunnecessary deployment of generators\u201d, external because of \u201cgross overestimates of energy consumption\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Georgina Grenon, environmental excellence director for Paris 2024 said recently that at London 2012, four million litres of diesel were burned just for electricity purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Turning Paris into a cycling city<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Transport amongst stadiums has been considered, with a 60km cycling network linking all of the Olympic venues – 30km of which has been built in the run-up to the Games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The challenges – heat, overseas travel and water pollution<\/p>\n\n\n\n A report by University of Portsmouth scientists Rings of Fire, external has cautioned about the effects of extreme heat on athletes. It found that average July and August temperatures had increased by 2.4\u00b0C and 2.7\u00b0C respectively over the 100 years since the Olympics was last held in France in 1924.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Olympic village was initially designed to be free of air conditioning, but in light of concerns about heat, 2,500 temporary cooling units will now be fitted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There were doubts as to whether triathlon and open water swimming events could be held in the River Seine after it was revealed last month it had failed water quality tests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, last week Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and other members of the Paris Olympic committee swam in the river to prove it was safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The biggest challenge to Paris meeting the targets is likely to come from spectator travel, which can account for about 80% of a sporting event\u2019s emissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At London 2012 organisers set a target of vending 75% of tickets to UK fans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By contrast, this year\u2019s Olympics will be the first where tickets have been sold centrally to all fans worldwide at the same time, which could result in greater numbers of international fans flying to the Games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bach told BBC Sport the Games must balance thoughts about carbon reduction against \u201cwhat great impact the Games have with regard to peace, with regard to health, with regard to bringing the entire world together\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2023, France banned short-haul flights where train replacements exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Criticism of sponsors<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Coca Cola, the longest-standing partner of the Olympics, was named the world\u2019s foremost plastic polluter, external in a recent survey by non-governmental organisation Break Free From Plastic<\/p>\n\n\n\n Toyota has dedicated to providing 500 hydrogen-fuel cell vehicles to \u201cthe Olympic and Paralympic family\u201d, with zero tailpipe emissions. However, a group of scientists, researchers and engineers have penned an open letter to the IOC, external arguing that hydrogen vehicles require three times more electricity than battery electric vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bach told BBC Sport that the use of EV, hybrid and hydrogen-powered vehicles within the fleet for Paris 2024 sent \u201ca very strong signal with respect to reducing the footprint of the Games\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added that Coca Cola will use \u201ca beverage fountain\u201d for catering at the Games, which \u201cwill reduce their plastic used by 50%\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Games plan to serve beverages in refillable plastic packaging at scale. However, French newspaper Le Monde has reported, external that 40% of drinks will still be served in single-use plastic bottles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n More than 100 athletes have employed an open letter, external calling on Coca Cola and Pepsi to stop selling single-use plastic bottles and promote reusable products.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The organising committee of Paris 2024 has vowed to make it the greenest Games in Olympic history, with half the carbon footprint of London 2012 and Rio 2016. London 2012 had an projected carbon footprint of 3.3m tonnes, while Rio 2016 had a total estimated footprint of 3.6m tonnes of carbon. The 2024 Games will…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6735,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,66],"tags":[737,73,134],"class_list":["post-6734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletic","category-international-athletics","tag-paris-olympic-2024","tag-slsports","tag-sports-news"],"yoast_head":"\n