Expert blog: Sustainability momentum or still missing the boat on climate change?

As the Paris 2024 Olympic Games has come to a close, let’s take this opportunity to reflect on the sustainable moments of the Olympic Games, and what components are required to make this event more climate friendly.

There have been a number of recent media stories about the sustainability ambitions of Paris as the 2024 host city - whether that be the temporary nature of the facilities, the ongoing clean-up of the River Seine, Stade de France’s natural seashell running track, or maybe some of the novelties in the athlete village e.g. cardboard beds (not the only time that recyclable beds have been the focal point at an Olympics).

But, with Paris still in the spotlight, how do the organisers and other international sports federations who competed at the Olympic Games fare on managing the built and natural environment?

Paris 2024’s approach to environmental and social sustainability

In the build-up to the Olympic Games, the organisers of Paris 2024 highlighted a range of environmental sustainability goals and socio-economic aspirations for the event. This included:

• 50% carbon emission reduction compared to London 2012 and Rio 2016
• 95% of events to be held at temporary or pre-existing venues
• €1.4bn clean-up of the River Seine
• 100% of competition venues to be connected using public transport
• 1.3m voluntary carbon credits purchased to support climate projects
• 90% of the Organising Committee suppliers to be French

Whilst crowds in Paris have drawn record attendances for some events, the scale of the event has once more kept pace with past host cities, albeit with fewer stadium constructions. A recent paper emphasised that the Olympic Games costs in Paris have overrun by 115% in real terms. However, these costs have been reduced largely due to facility re-use, better venue retrofitting and more responsible supply chain management.

Lowering the carbon impact of Paris 2024

At a pre-Games global meeting, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) alongside world leaders including the French President launched 10 commitments to advance the contribution of sport towards sustainable development.

One of these commitments focused on reducing the carbon emissions of sports events and supporting collective action using climate change initiatives - like the UN’s Sports for Climate Action Framework, of which Paris 2024 is a signatory. The Framework supports sports organisations to take action on climate change, with the aim of lowering their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

A persistent challenge for sporting event organisers like Paris 2024 is controlling the GHG emissions resulting from the Games, especially with a growing number of competitors and fans.

Transport from athletes and fans is expected to comprise a third of the total estimated carbon emissions from Paris 2024. To reduce the event’s impact on the environment, organisers often choose to offset their emissions through expenditure on climate change projects, referred to as carbon offsetting.

Carbon offsetting involves organisers calculating their carbon emissions consumed and paying to invest the same amount to balance out the carbon footprint of the event.

The Olympic Games in Paris was no different to other Games organisers especially in relation to investing in carbon offsetting programmes. For example, as part of their environmental strategy they have chosen to fund a project to plant a new forest.

This is set against the backdrop of carbon offsetting being disputed by international campaign groups as an ineffective solution that causes more harm to local communities, as well as the use of ‘emission reduction credits’ hindering companies from achieving net zero. In this instance, the transition to net zero is all about reducing GHGs as close to zero as possible.

Paris 2024 climate responsibility: engaging event organisers and sports federations jointly

Over time, Olympic hosts such as Paris and participating sports federations (e.g. World Sailing) have evolved their shared vision and thinking on its relationship to the environment, and what this means for the future of international sport.

Sports organisations like World Aquatics have made considerable strides in recent years concerning their responses to climate change. In the lead up to Paris 2024, a group I’m a member of, The Sport Ecology Group, released a report charting the progress of international sports federations on environmental sustainability since Tokyo 2020.

The report illustrated that over half of the summer sports federations at Paris 2024 now possess a sustainability strategy, and following on from Tokyo 2020 seven new federations are now signatories of the Sports for Climate Action Framework.

Reflecting on the new commitments established at the international ‘Sport for Sustainable Development Summit’ they emphasise the two way reciprocal relationship needed to drive action on the climate.

Paris 2024 has arguably acted as a stimulus to bring about and engage wider sports organisations on their climate journey. Throughout the Games, examples to underline these developments include dedicated Olympic sustainability events.

At one event, World Aquatics officially joined the UN’s Sport for Action Framework to extend their sustainability work and to educate its stakeholders about climate action. Additionally, other sporting bodies announced their intention to take action on climate change at a Sports for Nature seminar in Paris.

During this event, 17 sports federations and authorities joined the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Sports for Nature Framework - A global framework calling on sports to champion natural habitats and advocating sports bodies to contribute to the protection and restoration of the natural world.

Some have claimed that Paris 2024 could be considered the ‘Greenest Games’ of this era through specific environmental sustainability approaches undertaken, such as the temporary structures used in Paris. However, others have criticised the Games for exposing this event as harmful to the ecology of the city as well as jeopardising athletic performance due to the dangerous extreme European summer climate.

On the surface, there has been clear sustainability momentum sparked by the Paris organisers and sports federations to spotlight the management of the environment central to the future of our sports.