The organisers of the Paris Olympics have put in place a set of measures that they hope will halve the emissions compared to the average in the previous games in London and Rio, which was 3.5 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent. For the ongoing event they have developed a method for monitoring the emissions using a tool that combines almost 10,000 data points.
Though it remains to be seen if Paris actually accomplishes what it has set out to do, which we will know only at the end of the mega event, it is compelling to see what measures have been put in place and the lessons to be learnt from this exercise.
Green principles
According to reports from Paris, new construction was limited, and the organisers are largely using already existing venues for sport events. This cuts out massive levels of emission in construction activity and C&D waste. Only a single competition venue has been built — the Aquatic Centre, which follows green principles such as wooden structures, solar energy panels, and spectator seating made from recycled plastic waste.
The Stade de France is acting as the main athletics stadium, and the Grand Palais has been refurbished for some of the sporting events. Furniture too has been rented instead of being purchased, pushing forward the recycling rule of reuse.
Energy consumption is being managed by connecting the games sites to the public electricity grid and prioritising the deployment of renewable energy to power the sites. They hope to save around 13,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions through a reduction in use of diesel generators.
The River Seine, where swimming was banned all these decades due to high pollution levels, has seen a clean-up, and if all parameters pass the test swimming events will take place here.
Aviation emissions
Where logistics is concerned, all venues are accessible by public transport and bicycle routes have been improved and linked to competition venues. Of course, the aviation emissions of the event cannot be helped and are estimated to hit 837,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. For this, carbon credits have been purchased from Guatemala, Kenya and Nigeria, while four forestry projects are being funded within France.
During the games, athletes will also be kept abreast of climate change issues. In fact, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) organised a ‘Desertification Day’ to raise awareness of how desertification, land degradation and frequent extreme temperature is a major challenge to the sporting community.