Can Paris 2024 Be the Greenest Olympic Games Yet? 

Paris 2024 Olympics - Olympic Village Torch Relay - Olympic Village, Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Matthieu Garel, Emma Terho, Chair of the IOC Athletes' Commission, Ban Ki-moon, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization and Filippo Grandi, Commissioner of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees pose before the Olympic Village Torch Relay. (Reuters)
Paris 2024 Olympics - Olympic Village Torch Relay - Olympic Village, Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Matthieu Garel, Emma Terho, Chair of the IOC Athletes' Commission, Ban Ki-moon, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization and Filippo Grandi, Commissioner of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees pose before the Olympic Village Torch Relay. (Reuters)
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Can Paris 2024 Be the Greenest Olympic Games Yet? 

Paris 2024 Olympics - Olympic Village Torch Relay - Olympic Village, Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Matthieu Garel, Emma Terho, Chair of the IOC Athletes' Commission, Ban Ki-moon, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization and Filippo Grandi, Commissioner of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees pose before the Olympic Village Torch Relay. (Reuters)
Paris 2024 Olympics - Olympic Village Torch Relay - Olympic Village, Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Matthieu Garel, Emma Terho, Chair of the IOC Athletes' Commission, Ban Ki-moon, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization and Filippo Grandi, Commissioner of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees pose before the Olympic Village Torch Relay. (Reuters)

With medals made of iron salvaged from Eiffel Tower refurbishments and stadium seating of recycled plastic, Paris 2024 aims to be the greenest Olympics yet.

The case for action is clear as scientists have said intense heat linked to man-made carbon emissions is a growing risk to competitors at the world's largest sporting event and beyond.

Paris 2024 has pledged to reduce its carbon emissions by half compared to the average emitted during the London and Rio Summer Games.

Here are some of Paris 2024's efforts towards meeting that goal.

CONSTRUCTION

For many people, Olympic stadiums such as Rio's Olympic Aquatic Centre that have failed to find a purpose after the Games symbolize extravagance.

Paris 2024 has sought to minimize new construction.

Almost all venues use existing or temporary sites, often relying on the city's landmarks as backdrops.

Organizers say the replacement of concrete with low carbon building materials, including sustainably-sourced wood, will reduce the Olympic Village's emissions by 30% compared to what the organizers referred to as conventional projects without giving details.

Permanent infrastructure accounted for 73% of the estimated 467,000 metric tons of carbon emissions generated by the Olympic Games between 2018 and 2023.

In addition, 11,000 seats at the only two purpose-built arenas for Paris 2024 are made out of recycled plastic.

TRANSPORT

Along with construction, transport is expected to be one of the biggest sources of emissions during the Games.

Organizers have said they will use low-carbon vehicles to ferry around athletes and official visitors and that all venues are accessible by bike, foot or public transport.

However, Paris is not tackling the emissions generated by spectators travelling to the Games - such emissions made up almost a third (28%) of the 3.3 million metric tons of carbon emitted by the London 2012 Games.

RENEWABLE POWER

Paris 2024 has said its venues will use renewable energy sources via the grid, rather than the diesel-powered generators often used at sporting venues.

Some 5,000 meters squared of solar panels have been installed on the roof of the Aquatics Center and Olympic Village, and a 400-meter squared floating solar farm set up on the River Seine.

Meanwhile, the Olympic Village has a cooling system that draws water from underground rather than air conditioning.

State-owned utility EDF told Reuters it would provide guarantees of origin to link the energy used by the Games to six wind and two solar production sites in France.

CARBON OFFSETS

To make up for the some of the emissions that are not being avoided, notably spectator air travel, Paris 2024 has purchased 1.3 million carbon credits. Each credit represents one ton of emissions reduced or removed elsewhere - from projects protecting biodiversity-rich forests in Kenya and Guatemala and improving access to clean cooking in Kenya, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Organizers are also spending 600,000 euros ($651,720.00) on four forestry projects in France to sequester 14,500 tons of greenhouse gases.

Although carbon credits can channel money to climate-friendly projects, often in the Global South, some credit-generating projects have been scrutinized over false claims about the benefits they deliver.

Paris 2024 had positioned itself as the first climate-positive Games in reference to plans to remove, reduce or offset more emissions than it generates. It has since dropped such claims, pledging instead to reduce its climate impact and support climate projects.



Paris Braces for 'Most Incredible' Olympics Opening Ceremony

23 July 2024, France, Paris: A view of preparation work on the river Seine close to the Eiffel Tower, ahead of the Olympic Games Paris 2024. Photo: Peter Byrne/PA Wire/dpa
23 July 2024, France, Paris: A view of preparation work on the river Seine close to the Eiffel Tower, ahead of the Olympic Games Paris 2024. Photo: Peter Byrne/PA Wire/dpa
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Paris Braces for 'Most Incredible' Olympics Opening Ceremony

23 July 2024, France, Paris: A view of preparation work on the river Seine close to the Eiffel Tower, ahead of the Olympic Games Paris 2024. Photo: Peter Byrne/PA Wire/dpa
23 July 2024, France, Paris: A view of preparation work on the river Seine close to the Eiffel Tower, ahead of the Olympic Games Paris 2024. Photo: Peter Byrne/PA Wire/dpa

Thousands of athletes are set to sail through central Paris on Friday during an unprecedented and high-risk Olympics opening ceremony that will showcase the country's hugely ambitious vision for the Games.
The parade on Friday evening will see up to 7,500 competitors travel down a six-kilometer (four-mile) stretch of the river Seine on a flotilla of 85 boats.
Compared to the Covid-blighted 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which were delayed by a year and opened in an empty stadium, the Paris show will take place in front of 300,000 cheering spectators and an audience of VIPs and celebrities from around the world, said Agence France Presse.
"Tomorrow you will have one of the most incredible opening ceremonies," French President Emmanuel Macron promised at a pre-Games dinner for heads of state and government at the Louvre museum on Thursday evening.
The line-up of performers is a closely guarded secret but US pop star Lady Gaga and French-Malian singer Aya Nakamura -- the most listened-to French-speaking singer in the world -- are rumored to be among them.
It will be the first time a Summer Olympics has opened outside the main athletics stadium, a decision fraught with danger at a time when France is on its highest alert for terrorism.
For months, organizers have been dogged by questions about whether they would need to scale back or move the procession, but they had insisted throughout that there was no plan B.
'Difficult to secure'
A huge security perimeter has been erected along both banks of the Seine, guarded round-the-clock by some of the 45,000 police and paramilitary officers who will be on duty on Friday evening.
Another 10,000 soldiers are set to add to the security blanket along with 22,000 private security guards.
"Without any doubt, it is much more difficult to secure half of Paris than to secure a stadium, where you have 80,000 people and you can frisk them and send them through turnstiles," Frederic Pechenard, an ex-director general of the French police, told AFP.
Police snipers are set to be positioned on every high point along the route of the river convoy, which is overlooked by hundreds of buildings.
An assassination attempt on US presidential candidate Donald Trump on July 13 has focused minds.
Armed officers will also be on the boats, a security source told AFP.
The Israeli and Palestinian teams will be given extra protection, with the tensions caused by Israel's offensive in Gaza, where nearly 40,000 people are estimated to have died, already spilling into the Games.
Organizers will be on guard against fresh protests on Friday evening after the Israeli football team's first match on Wednesday was marked by the waving of Palestinian flags and the booing of the Israeli anthem.
Scandal-hit Canadians
The opening ceremony is likely to define the mood for the rest of the July 26-August 11 Games, which organizers have pledged will be "iconic".
Around 3,000 dancers are set to perform from the banks of the river and nearby monuments, including Notre-Dame cathedral, in a show that will promote diversity.
The landmarks and architecture of the City of Light, one of the world's best-loved destinations, is set to feature as a backdrop both to Friday night's show and much of the sport afterwards.
"The opening ceremony is a huge event and one that, arguably, sets the tone for the next 17 days," Hugh Robertson, the minister charged with delivering the 2012 London Olympics, told AFP recently.
Paris's vision is for a more cost-effective and less polluting Olympics than previous editions, with competitions set to take place at historic locations around the capital.
For scheduling reasons, some events have already started, including the football, rugby sevens and archery -- the latter taking place in front of the golden-domed Invalides, the final resting place of Napoleon.
On Thursday, women's football took center stage after a chaotic start to the sporting action in the men's football 24 hours earlier caused by a pitch invasion during an Argentina-Morocco game.
US gymnastics superstar Simone Biles, set to once again be one of the faces of the Games, got her first taste of the Bercy Arena as she trained ahead of the start of competition at the weekend.
Biles is strongly tipped to add to her haul of four Olympic golds at the Paris Games after a tumultuous campaign in Tokyo three years ago, when she pulled out of most of her events as she battled the disorientating condition that gymnasts call "twisties".