Since its candidature, Paris 2024 has been convinced that major sport events must take their responsibilities towards climate change. 

The goal is ambitious : to halve the carbon footprint of the Games compared with the average for London 2012 and Rio 2016.

CHANGING THE MODEL: FROM A POST-GAMES ASSESSMENT TO A PRE-GAMES TARGET

To reduce the Games’ impact on the climate, it has adopted an approach that offers a radical departure from that of previous major sports events, moving from a post-event assessment of its carbon footprint with offsetting activities to the pre-Games definition of a carbon impact reduction target and strategy.

Paris 2024 has set itself the goal of halving the carbon footprint of the Games compared with the average of London 2012 and Rio 2016, i.e. 3.5 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent.

To measure its objective of halving the carbon footprint of the Games, Paris 2024 has chosen to take into account all the carbon emissions of the event, both direct and indirect, including spectator travel.

Paris 2024 has considered this as its starting point, in order to guide the choices it has been making since the bidding phase and continues to make throughout the cycle of preparation for the organisation of the Games.

ACTIONS TO REDUCE CARBON EMISSIONS INTEGRATED INTO ALL OPERATIONS

For the first time in the history of the Games, Paris 2024 has anticipated the Games' carbon emissions and developed a method for monitoring them throughout the event, using a tool that now combines almost 10,000 data points.

Paris 2024 and its ecosystem are on course to meet this objective thanks to the measures to avoid, reduce and control carbon emissions that were initially defined and that have been implemented in all areas of Games organisation:

Construction: a single competition venue built for the needs of the Games, the Aquatic Centre, and left as a legacy to the people of Seine-Saint-Denis

Fourniture: favouring rental over purchase and anticipating the second life of equipment

Energy: connecting the Games sites to the public electricity grid and giving priority to renewable energy sources to power them

Catering: offering a more responsible diet with twice as much plant-based food in meals.

To encourage other sporting events to follow this dynamic, Paris 2024 has launched the ‘Event Climate Coach’, an application designed to help organisers understand and reduce the carbon impact of their events.