The organizers of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris set themselves ambitious goals from the start: they wanted to halve the environmental footprint of the five-ring Games compared to the last editions in London in 2012 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016. That's 3.5 million tons of CO2 each.2It was “produced”, which is why the French organisers set a cap of 1.6 million tonnes – and of course formulated their ideas for the Games’ infrastructure backbone accordingly.
Urban mobility and green solutions
For the Olympics to be truly environmentally friendly, several factors had to be purposefully combined, according to Allianz research. From his analysisThe report covers more than 10,000 athletes, their backroom staff, who outnumber competitors, 34,000 overseas correspondents and journalists, and some 15 million visitors – 1.5 million of whom are foreigners and 2.5-3 million ticket-paying fans – examining the economics of an influential sporting event that provides 13 million servings of food.
It has invested more than 1 billion euro investment Demonstrates a strong business commitment to environmental protection.
Managers relied 95 percent on existing and temporary infrastructure.
After the Paralympic Games, the Olympic Village will be transformed into a low-carbon, eco-friendly residential park and commercial area: according to the plans, six thousand new residents will live in this area in Seine-Saint-Denis from 2025.
District cooling system launched in the Olympic Village – the pipeline system follows the same principle as district heating. The advantage is that a typical building using district cooling emits up to 20 percent less carbon dioxide than a conventional air-conditioned building. Compared to before, the supply of plant-based food has been doubled in each location.
Iconic venues such as the Stade de France and the Eiffel Tower, which have been converted for athletics and beach volleyball events, are good examples of how historical landmarks can be seamlessly integrated into a modern sporting environment.
Alternating between cities?
In the future, it is possible to support the climate-friendly approach by rotating the games between the same few cities, as this would avoid the cost of building new infrastructure.
This is particularly important for the Winter Olympics, as climate change limits the number of cities that can even host the event in the future. This will likely lead to a rotation between a select few cities. The 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics will be held in Italy, but we could return to France in 2030: if the conditions are met, the Winter Olympics could be held in the French Alps, a decision was made at the end of July by the UN Security Council. International Olympic CommitteeSalt Lake City is a contender to host the 2034 Winter Olympics, meaning the competition could return to the United States after the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.
Best Practices: Sustainable Infrastructure
One of the clearest remaining benefits of hosting the Olympics is boosting infrastructure development. The airport was expanded for the Beijing 2008 event and continues to benefit the city. Similarly, Barcelona (1992) and London (2012) transformed previously neglected areas into vibrant economic zones.
The Grand Paris Express project in Paris has been accelerated to 2024, while it is scheduled to be fully completed in 2030. The project includes a series of new high-speed rail lines being built in the Île-de-France region of France and four new Paris metro lines, as well as the extension of the existing lines 11 and 14, and is planned to serve 2 million passengers per day.
This is also an opportunity to do something beyond sport: improve the infrastructure around the capital, for example, connecting the Seine-Saint-Denis area, the poorest region in France, to the capital's circulatory system.
According to Allianz Research analysts, the 2024 Paris Olympics could serve as an ideal case study for future sporting event organizers and could show a new path, i.e. a different model that is better aligned with the climate protection goals of the Paris Agreement.
(Cover photo: The Eiffel Tower during the men's round of 16 match between Brazil and the Netherlands on day nine of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on August 4, 2024. Photo: Elsa/Getty Images)
