All eyes are on Paris, as the 2024 Summer Olympic Games inspire and unite people across the globe through mid-August. And as world-renowned athletes continue to break records and raise the bar of excellence in each of their sports, it is only fitting that the Olympics themselves also set a new standard for global sporting events.
“Sport, a driver of solidarity and self-betterment, must allow us to move forward to meet so many of our common challenges, and in particular to invest in our next generations of athletes,” said Emmanuel Macron, President of France.
With this conviction, President Macron and Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), hosted the first Sport for Sustainable Development (#Sport4SD) Summit at the Louvre on the eve of the Opening Ceremony on July 25.
“Our goal is to win, as a team, this game against fate, and for future generations,” Macron said at the Summit. Here in Paris, we must write a new page in our sporting, fraternal and universal history.”
Fittingly, the Paris Games share a home with the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the international treaty adopted at the UN Climate Change Conference in 2015. In preparation for the 2024 Olympics, France and the IOC have worked hard to create a sustainable model and position sport as a positive contributor to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Aligning with the Paris Agreement, Paris is the first host city to fully adhere to Olympic Agenda 2020, a plan laid out by the IOC to create a more sustainable format for the Games and better serve host communities. Within the Agenda, the IOC has committed to “doing more with less” by using more “existing and temporary venues, reducing carbon emissions and promoting sustainable energy sources” (Olympics.com).
First, Paris 2024 has committed to 100% renewable energy. All facilities are connected to the grid, eliminating the need for diesel generators that pollute the environment. The Olympic Village and the Aquatics Centre have solar panels to help provide clean energy to two of the largest and most used facilities. And instead of traditional AC units, the Olympic Village is using geothermal cooling systems to save more energy.
In addition, the Paris Olympics are cutting emissions by 50-percent compared to the average from the London (2012) and Rio (2016) Games. While this is a multifaceted strategy, a major focus in preparing Paris as a host city was utilizing existing venues as much as possible to minimize new construction, a major contributor to carbon emissions. For temporary venues that did need to be constructed — like the Olympic Village and Aquatics Centre — the city built strategically placed structures that can be repurposed to serve local community needs long after these Olympics are over.
Spectator-related emissions have also been significantly reduced, from seats to concessions to travel. The seats in the Aquatics Centre are made from recycled bottle caps, and there are twice as many plant-based foods at concession stands. Single-use plasticware has been cut in half thanks in part to the allowance of reusable water bottles and free water stations. To minimize transportation emissions, all Paris 2024 venues are accessible by public transportation, and bike lanes and parking were a priority in planning as well.
According to Olympics.com, “To date, a second life for 90 per cent of equipment and goods has been secured.”
So let the athletes, and the 2024 Olympic Games themselves, inspire you! Do your part to reduce and reuse whenever possible, and if you haven’t had a No-Cost Home Energy Assessment, there’s no better way to start saving energy (and money) in your home.
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