Stéphane Mandard writes on the Le Monde website about the challenges organisers are facing in hosting a ‘climate positive’ Games. Environmental concerns are foremost in the planning of the Games but there are major challenges. Even still, the Paris 2024 organising committee maintains that these Games will provide the sporting movement with a new model for organizing major events more in line with climate issues. What are your views?
Paris 2024: The untenable promise of ‘climate positive’ Games
Behind the objective to reduce the carbon footprint of the Olympics by half compared to London 2012 and Rio 2016, the organizers are facing many uncertainties that put in doubt their statements promoting the image of green Olympics.
At Pulse, the Paris 2024 headquarters, the carpet is second-hand, tanks collect rainwater to irrigate a vegetable garden on the terrace, 300m2 of solar panels provide electricity and you won’t find any single-use plastic in the restaurant even though a Coca-Cola dispenser (required due to its sponsorship of the International Olympic Committee) provides sodas, chips and sweets.
Located in Saint-Denis, a suburb on the edge of Paris, by the metro and close to the Stade de France and the future athletes’ village, this building, recognizable by its imposing wood and glass façade, is “the laboratory” for Olympic and Paralympic Games that have been presented as “historic for the climate” by the president of the organizing committee, Tony Estanguet, and a “break” with previous events. This ambition (and a condition) has been undertaken since the first day of the French capital’s application by Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo: The Games will either be eco-friendly or they won’t take place.
A ‘green’ message in reverse
At Paris 2024, as proof that the subject is taken very seriously, there is even a “director of environmental excellence.” “It’s a title that is not always easy to live up to,” admitted Georgina Grenon with a certain sense of self-mockery. To avoid being accused of greenwashing, like Qatar with its “carbon neutral” football World Cup, Paris 2024 is taking a more understated approach with its communications.
No more of “the first Games with a positive contribution to the climate” touted by the organizing committee in the March 2021 document – still in use – detailing its “climate strategy.” The stated ambition was “to go further” than “carbon neutrality” by “offsetting” more greenhouse gas emissions than those generated by the event. The reference to “carbon neutrality” has also been quietly abandoned. In a statement issued in May 2022, the Agence de la Transition Ecologique (environmental transition agency, ADEME) pointed out that the concept only has meaning on a global or national scale and that it can be “misleading” when used in the context of an event.
Communications have been “adapted” but the ambition remains “the same,” insists the Paris 2024 organizing committee. The official message, whether it is stated by Grenon or the head of climate and biodiversity for Paris 2024, Benjamin Lévèque, is now to “halve the carbon footprint of the Games” compared to previous events.
Rio in 2016 and London in 2012 emitted 3.6 million and 3.4 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent, respectively. Tokyo, with no spectators due to the Covid-19 pandemic, emitted 1.9 million in 2021. Paris has set a total “carbon budget” limit of 1.5 million tonnes of CO2, a decrease of 55% compared to the average of Rio and London. And it is still committed, despite the change in tone, to “offset” them in full and even beyond by funding “positive projects for the climate.”
Is this promise of a green Games credible? Or, in other words, are the Games compatible with the fight against climate change? Le Monde sought the expertise of Eclaircies, an independent non-profit organization of experts in the environmental transition, to analyze the Paris 2024 climate strategy.
A significant effort to reduce emissions
Unlike previous Games, Paris 2024 has set a “target carbon footprint” to be achieved in advance. This estimates the emissions that will be produced during both the event and the preparation phase. The carbon budget is divided into three areas: travel (34%), construction (33%) and operations (33%).
The main advantage of Paris 2024 lies in the limited number of new sports venues to be built: only one permanent structure (the aquatic center in Saint-Denis), compared to nine in Rio and Tokyo and six in London. 95% of the sites already exist (the Stade de France for athletics, the velodrome in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (Yvelines), the arenas in Bercy and Nanterre for basketball, volleyball and gymnastics) or will be temporary (the ephemeral Grand Palais on the Champs-de-Mars for judo and wheelchair rugby).
Outside the competitions, two sites are under construction: the athletes’ village and the media village. The first is presented as a model of its kind: thanks to the significant use of wood, its carbon impact should be reduced by 30% compared to conventional concrete construction with an objective written into the contracts not to exceed 700 kg CO2 equivalent per square meter compared to one tonne on average. It will also be equipped with solar panels and partially connected to the urban cooling network in order to cool it. It will give way to a new “eco-district” to meet another ethos of Paris 2024. This will be the “legacy” that the event will leave.
Regarding travel, the emphasis is on the “compactness” of the Games: 80% of the Parisian venues (sailing will take place in Marseille, shooting in Châteauroux and surfing in Tahiti) are located within a radius of 10 kilometers and less than half an hour from the Olympic Village. All are accessible by public transport and a fleet of low-carbon vehicles will be made available for the Olympic family.
Finally, for operations related to the Games (accommodation, digital, logistics, merchandising …), the organizing committee highlights a special effort on catering and the 13 million meals that will be served during the Games. By doubling the plant-based products on the menus, Paris 2024 intends to halve its carbon impact to generate the equivalent of 1 kg CO2 per meal. But this is a marginal saving: Catering represents just 1% of the Games’ projected carbon budget.
Uncertainties about its realization
“Even though the climate approach can be welcomed, it remains opaque,” said Alexandre Joly, energy and climate expert at Eclaircies. The hypotheses for calculating the carbon footprint, the impact assessments of the various measures and whether or not the carbon budget will be achieved have not been published. The organizers refer to “points that can still move” and “confidential elements related to the travel and expenses of some partners.”
It is therefore impossible to know where Paris 2024 is precisely in its emissions reduction trajectory and how much of its carbon budget has already been consumed. Lévèque, the Games’ climate manager, concedes “around 10%” for the main building works of the Olympic village and “a few percent” for the headquarters, its operation, the travel of the 1,500 employees, and the events already organized. A re-estimation (after the one from March 2021) of the carbon budget is envisaged at the end of 2023 but no public data is expected before April 2024 and the submission of a report to the International Olympic Committee.
The greatest uncertainty surrounding the actual carbon footprint of the Games is related to transportation. Regarding the commitment for “100% of the venues to be accessible by public transport,” two parameters could complicate the initial equation: the delay in the work of new key lines – the Charles-de-Gaulle Express between Roissy (Val-d’Oise) and the center of Paris, and lines 16 and 17 will not be ready – and the risks of strikes related to a potentially tense social climate, particularly because of the project to open the bus network to competition.
Above all, and the organizers recognize this, where they have the least control is on the mode of transportation that spectators, especially from abroad, will choose to travel to Paris. The carbon footprint associated with travel will not be the same if Americans or Chinese represent 1% or 5% of spectators. The origin of the audience will not be known until the end of ticket sales at the end of 2023.
To meet the target of 500,000 tonnes (one-third of the total carbon budget) of CO2 equivalents for transportation, the organizers plan to “encourage” people to take the train. How? No one knows. They expect that spectators from “neighboring” or even “wider” Europe will favor rail over air. This is more of a pious hope. The ADP Group, which manages the airports of Roissy, Orly and Le Bourget, has just entered the circle of official partners of Paris 2024 and intends to take advantage of the Games to fill up with passengers after the slump related to Covid-19. It even intends to test “flying cabs,” a kind of small electric helicopter.
The mirage of offsetting
In another pillar of its climate strategy, Paris 2024 is committed to “offsetting” all emissions that could not be avoided, and even more. How will this be done? By funding projects that are designed to contribute to combating climate change, in particular by sequestering CO2. The most common example is the preservation of tropical forests.
Carbon offsetting is criticized because it often covers up greenwashing practices, “but we must not kill carbon contribution projects because not everything is bad,” Lévèque defended. Paris 2024 has not commented regarding the selected projects but confirmed that it has paid attention to their “quality.”
Lévèque refers to projects on five continents that meet the highest standards of certification – such as the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA) – in order to “offset” the equivalence of million and a half tonnes of CO2. Despite the change in semantics, Paris 2024 still promises to go further by also supporting projects (forestry, agriculture) on French territory through the brand new “Label bas-carbone” certification (low-carbon label). A rather modest call for tenders (to save 35,000 tonnes) is underway.
César Dugast, an expert in carbon offsetting at Eclaircies, is surprised at the “small” budget allocated to these projects. The investment stated by Paris 2024 is €15 million. For 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 emitted, the price per ton would therefore be €10. A level that is certainly higher than the average price at which carbon credits are traded on the “voluntary carbon market” (around $3 – €2.8 – per tonne), but relatively low if compared to the European quota system (€88 euros/tCO2) and far below the carbon price recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (between $100 and $400 by 2030) to stay below the 1.5 °C of the Paris Agreement.
‘Radical transformations’ for a greener Olympics
The Paris 2024 organizing committee maintains that these Games will provide the sporting movement with a new model for organizing major events more in line with climate issues. The IOC itself states that “from 2030 onwards, each Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games will be contractually obliged to minimize and compensate its direct and indirect carbon emissions and implement lasting zero-carbon solutions for the Olympic Games and beyond.” But does this type of event still have a place in a low-carbon world? Perhaps, answer the experts at Eclaircies, but at the cost of “radical transformations.”
The first would be to “drastically” reduce the size of the event. Fewer spectators mean less CO2 emissions. “Almost all of humanity has never seen the Games other than on television, and this has never harmed the unifying character of the event,” commented Dugast.
Eclaircies proposes to create “conviviality hubs” in all countries to broadcast the events in the best conditions. To avoid using airplanes without organizing closed-door Games, they recommend chartering continental trains at very low prices. They also recommend pushing even further on construction and catering, aiming at “zero new construction” and “100% vegetarian meals.”
“Paris 2024 seems to have understood that it is illusory to claim to organize an event of this magnitude while being neutral, or even positive, for the climate,” said Dugast. For the expert, “there is no magic wand” and he believes it is vital “to carry out an in-depth reflection to collectively determine what is necessary and what is superfluous in our activities, and to dare to radically rethink our ways of organizing this kind of event.”
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