This article was originally published in the Brand Finance Olympics Journal 2024
Strategy & Sustainability Director,
Brand Finance
Strategy & Sustainability Consultant,
Brand Finance
The world’s attention was on the athletes and action of the 2024 Paris Olympics, but the organisers’ commitments to sustainability at this year’s Games deserve recognition too.
Few amongst the global general public perceive a strong commitment to sustainability at this year’s Olympiad. According to Brand Finance research (Figure 1), 35% see the games as having a positive impact on the community, 25% see the games as well managed and ethically governed, and just 18% associate the games with a commitment to environmental sustainability. However, Paris arguably was an inflection point, setting an expectation for sustainability to be integrated in all future Games.
The sustainable structures, policies, and practices at this year’s Olympics were the most ambitious yet, and Paris was the first host to align with the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) 2020 agenda1 for sustainability.
SO, WHAT DOES SUSTAINABILITY LOOK LIKE AT PARIS 2024?
Hosting an Olympic Games has a large carbon footprint, and so Paris organisers focused on environmental sustainability. They put proactive measures in place for spectators, construction crews, athletes, and the city at-large. The organizers reported2 that 95% of its sporting venues were existing or lighter, temporary structures, reducing the embedded emissions of builds.
More significant new constructions, such as the Olympic Village residences, were constructed with an afterlife in mind, with plans to convert them into workspaces and housing3, mitigating emissions associated with demolition and new construction. Whether new or a retrofit, organisers prioritised incorporating recycled materials or those with a lower environmental footprint and procuring renewable sources of electricity and cooling4.
Resource re-use also extended to sporting and media equipment, which was largely rented in the first place and will be offered for rent after the Games. Meanwhile, the food that fuelled Olympic athletes was markedly5 more plant-based than at past games and was sourced largely from local producers.
Moving so many people from place to place to participate and spectate at the games is also a large source of emissions. Paris made use of its European rail linkages to encourage public transport modes where possible. Within the city, all sporting venues were accessible by public transport, completely excluding access for motorized vehicles6.
UNINTENDED BENEFITS
Some of the sustainability-related benefits of the Olympics are not necessarily intentional. Whilst there may have been some embarrassment that poor water quality in the Seine led to delays in the triathlon events, this created considerable coverage and discussion of the issue of water pollution, a global problem. Hopefully this will translate into more concerted efforts by French water authorities and Parisian officials to resolve the issue and reinforce calls for action elsewhere.
While the integration of sustainability into the Paris Games is pioneering, the communications around the efforts, as well as labels used for the event itself, are also noteworthy.
In 2023, French outlets noted that the organizers had redacted7 messaging that declared the 2024 Summer Games to be ‘climate positive’ and later, ‘carbon neutral.’ This gap between expectation and reality was labelled8 as greenwashing by some scholars and environmental watchdogs, but the criticism is an oversimplification of the complex decisions and continuous adjustments required in these communications.
As plans shifted, whether scaling back was due to funding gaps, scientific challenges, or other factors, Paris Olympics organisers updated their messaging, such as when they responded to community concerns by releasing additional9 details on the offsetting projects tied to renewable energy claims. And when Tahitian residents stood10 their ground on the risks to coral reefs from surfing tower construction after being left out of earlier consultations, Paris organisers shifted plans and communications accordingly.
Paris 2024 may have fallen short of its ambitious sustainability goals set at the start of planning, but there is still much to celebrate. Every Olympic Games is an unmatched opportunity to reach a global audience. The prioritisation of sustainability at this year’s Summer Games—with demonstrated improvements from Games past—should inspire greater commitment in Games to come. Our verdict on sustainability at Paris 2024: a well-deserved silver medal.
1https://stillmed.olympics.com/media/Document%20Library/OlympicOrg/IOC/What-We-Do/celebrate-olympic-games/Sustainability/IOC-Sustainability-Report-2019-2.pdf
2https://olympics.com/ioc/news/all-you-need-to-know-about-paris-2024-sustainability
3https://www.ft.com/content/5147ad91-bbe0-4c00-abfa-020239453d26
4https://www.edie.net/how-sustainable-is-the-paris-olympics-2024/
5https://www.countryliving.com/uk/news/a61764317/environmental-director-paris-olympics/
6https://olympics.com/en/paris-2024/spectator/get-to-the-competition-venues
7https://www.lemonde.fr/en/sports/article/2023/05/31/paris-2024-the-untenable-promise-of-climate-positive-games_6028569_9.html#
8https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-paris-olympics-are-a-lesson-in-greenwashing/
9https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/en/market-insights/latest-news/energy-transition/072324-feature-paris-olympics-to-lean-heavily-on-offsets-clean-power-to-hit-carbon-targets
10https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240731-how-tahiti-locals-fought-back-against-olympic-surfing
