With a little over 200 days to go before the 2024 Paris Olympics, RFI looks at how organisers are raising the bar to make good on their promise of staging the most sustainable Games ever held.
Seven years ago when the Paris candidate team presented their proposal, they rolled out a robust and eco-friendly blueprint to slash carbon emissions by more than half compared to the Games held in London and Rio.
French Olympian Tony Estanguet, now president of the Paris 2024 Olympics, said the French capital would elevate sustainability to the top of its priority list.
The thrice Olympic canoeing champion said the Paris Games would produce an estimated 1.56 million tonnes of carbon emissions, down 55 percent from the roughly 3.42 million tonnes created by the Rio 2016 and the London 2012 events.
So how are things looking now that the 2024 Games are just a short march away?
Quelle année. Rendez-vous en 2024 !#rétrospective#Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/PCXVyIWWR5
— Tony Estanguet - OLY (@TonyEstanguet) December 31, 2023
Carbon footprint
Unlike previous Olympics, where carbon footprints were calculated once the job was done, Paris has taken the step of adding up the emissions of policy decisions before they are even implemented.
The carbon budget for this year's Games have been divided into three distinct categories: travel at 34 percent, construction at 33 percent and operations – such as catering, accommodation, logistics – at 33 percent
Paris’s ability to use existing infrastructure for events has also driven down emissions.
The use of existing venues and temporary structures has been a realistic goal to date, with the construction of an aquatics centre in the northern suburb of Saint-Denis regarded as the only new major legacy project.
Public or shared transport will used by 100 percent of spectators, while 85 percent of athletes will be housed within a 30-minute travel radius of their competition venues.
This contrasts with Games in cities such as Athens, in 2004, where costly venues were subsequently abandoned, becoming "white elephant" sites across the Greek capital.
Electricty, waste
The Paris 2024 Olympic Committee (COJO) has also embarked on a massive energy project, with all Olympic sites set to be connected to the national electricity grid, thus doing away with diesel generation.
As it stands, the lighting at the iconic Stade de France is powered by oil-fired generators. For the Olympics, these generators will only be used as a last-resort, and will run on biofuel instead.
COJO estimates this measure will save as much as 13,000 tonnes of emissions.
Pollution is also a main focus of organisers, with COJO applying circular economics where it can.
"The 42,000 chairs, 10,000 office tables, 6,000 shelves and 800 workstations used for the Games will be recovered after the event," says Georgina Grenon, the environmental excellence director for Paris 2024.
"Three-quarters will be resold second-hand or donated, while others will be recycled or reused to manufacture other products."
As for the 13 million meals that will be served, COJO plans to serve plates with 25 percent of products sourced from within 250 kilometres of the Olympic venues, and to double the number of vegetarian options available during previous Games.
Although catering accounts for just 1 percent of the Games' carbon budget, it is a symbolic move.
Paris will also ban single-use plastics during the Games as part of efforts to tackle the global plastic pollution crisis.
Visitors with plastic bottles will not be allowed into temporary Olympic competition sites.
2023 was a great year... and we're sure that 2024 will be better because we'll all be together for the Games ✨#Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/OCE6pL4P3m
— Paris 2024 (@Paris2024) December 30, 2023
Air-conditioning dilemma
Meanwhile, the Olympic village is going underground to find a way to keep athletes cool at the 2024 Games without air conditioners.
Organisers will use a water-cooling system under the Athletes Village – much like the one that has helped the Louvre Museum cope with the sweltering heat that broke records last year.
The technology uses natural sources to keep everyone cool, even during a potential heat wave.
For the two months between July and September this year, the Athletes Village north of Paris will host 15,600 athletes and sports officials during the Olympics and 9,000 athletes and their supporting teams during the Paralympics.
After the Games, the 50-hectare site next to the Seine River will become a zero-carbon, eco-friendly residential and commercial neighborhood with 6,000 new inhabitants – with the first residents set to move in as soon as 2025.
In anticipation of hot weather, organisers have been studying heatwaves block-by-block in the Athletes Village.
They have simulated conditions in the parts of the accommodation most exposed to the sun and have tested the effectiveness of the cooling system with an objective of keeping the indoor temperature to between 23°C and 26°C.
However, with Paris recording regular summer heatwaves that see temperatures rise over 40°C, some Olympians have already expressed concern about the lack of air conditioning, with some teams potentially bringing their own air conditioners to France – or paying for one on the spot.
Swimming the Seine
Then there is the challenge to make the Seine swimmable for the first time in 100 years in time for the Olympic swimming marathon and triathlon events.
Despite some setbacks for trial events on the river last summer, concentration levels for two bacteria – E.coli and Enterococcus, both indicators of fecal material in the water – are reportedly low enough to safely bathe in the river. The challenge is to maintain those levels.
The main risk comes from storms, when rainwater pours into the Parisian sewer system that overflows into the river.
To avoid this happening next summer, the city is building a massive underground basin in the south of Paris, with a 50,000 cubic metre capacity – about the equivalent of 20 Olympic swimming pools.
The Austerlitz basin will collect rainfall to avoid the overflow.
