Will Paris Olympics 2024 be most eco friendly ever

In about a fortnight, athletes, authorities, staff, and huge congregations of sports enthusiasts from around the world will throng to Paris for the Summer Olympics. 

In this year’s games, over 10,000 athletes will participate across 800+ events, with 45,000 volunteers and 13 million meals served. 

Alongside being one of the biggest sporting spectacles ever, Paris 2024 also aims to be the greenest and most eco-friendly edition of the Olympics in history. 

If you’re wondering how it’s possible to make an event of such a big scale easy on the environment, that’s a 100 percent valid question. It’s enormously difficult. 

After all, we’re looking at a ton of travel, huge amounts of food & drink, and kilowatts upon kilowatts of energy consumption. 

But the organisers have a plan, it seems. 

According to this story on the World Economic Forum website, Paris has pledged to reduce the event’s carbon footprint by close to 50 percent. 

In exact figures, that comes up to about 1.75 million tonnes of carbon dioxide versus the 3.75 million tonnes that some of the previous editions averaged out to. 

Additionally, 95 percent of the events will be hosted in existing buildings and venues, which means Paris 2024 also plans to be cutting down on creating new venues from the ground up, something that’s very common for events such as the Olympics. 

Paris 2024’s Athletes' Village will be powered by renewable energy and the athletes will use mattresses made from recycled fishing nets. 

As part of their offsetting initiatives, Paris 2024 will also invest in environmental and social projects around the world, and, within the city, plant around 2,00,000 trees. 

The city also plans to add 1,000 km of new lanes for cycling, making it easier for people to get around, cutting CO2 transport emissions. 

And finally, the games plan to move towards more plant-based meals and cut down on single-use plastics. 

While this is all definitely a move in the right direction, sceptics aren’t entirely convinced that these changes will prove effective enough to have the desired impact. 

In this article, Seth Warren Rose of the Eneref Institute, an advocacy and research group focused on sustainable development, says that close to 50 percent is not enough, and that Paris 2024 must bring it down actually to 50 percent. 

“Maybe things like the Olympics have to be reconsidered… Having millions of people congregate in a single area is a very intensive thing,” he said. 

Whether or not Paris 2024 manages to hit the 50 percent carbon emission reduction mark is something that remains to be seen, but it’s important - and now more than ever - to be having these conversations, especially around mega events the size of the Olympics. 

The Global Risks Report 2024 says that vegetarian diets and other low-carbon life choices, including adapting transportation means that are low on CO2 emissions and reducing the consumption of single-use plastic, can, on a large scale, make a significant difference. 

But how much of a change can individual efforts really bring about when companies - including those sponsoring these kinds of events - aren’t entirely dedicating themselves to incorporating the same eco-friendly practices in their operations? 

At least organisers are quick to admit not everything is perfect. 

“We say that sustainability is a collective sport,” Georgina Grenon, director of environmental excellence for the Paris Games said to 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.”