WHEN the Paris Olympics organizers sent surfing competitions to the Pacific waters of Tahiti, critics railed against the building of a new viewing tower on Teahupo'o reef because of fears it would hurt marine life.
But it wasn't just the world-class waves that lured the organizers to the French territory 16,000 kilometers away. Another reason was the ambitious target of halving their overall carbon footprint compared with the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Games.
With Tahiti's surfing reef too far offshore for fans to see the action clearly from the beach, organizers calculated that most would watch on television instead of taking flights, a major source of carbon emissions.
After doing the math, Georgina Grenon, director of Environmental Excellence for the Paris Games, concluded, “There was less impact in Tahiti compared to other metropolitan areas.”
Tahiti's selection provides a window into organizers' approach to hitting their goal of reducing emissions, specifically to limit them to 1.58 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent for the July 26 to August 11 Games and Paralympics that follow. That's equal to that of about 1.3 million economy passengers flying one way from New York to Paris on Boeing 787 jets, according to myclimate, a climate and sustainability consultancy.
It's a lot less, however, than the footprint of previous Games.
Organizers say they're thinking about the Games' future, not just the planet's. Fewer cities are volunteering to spend billions on infrastructure that sometimes falls into disuse. Hosting less-wasteful Games, along with including youth-oriented events such as skateboarding, might just be the key.
Paris is under additional pressure to be a sustainable model: It hosted the 2015 UN climate talks that resulted in the Paris Agreement, the most significant international climate accord to date. Delegates agreed the world should limit average global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius above that of the 1850s, and ideally cap it at 1.5 C, a goal looking increasingly unattainable.
Organizers targeted reductions across three categories: construction, transportation and operations. They calculate total emissions, then start cutting, including small CO2 savings that add up significantly.
Using wood, low-carbon cement and salvaged materials helped reduce emissions by 30 percent compared with traditional methods, Grenon said.
Reductions in operations include food. The average meal in France — restaurant- or home-prepared — produces about 2 kilograms of CO2, said Philipp Würz, the Games' catering head. Paris aims to halve that by sourcing 80 percent of ingredients locally, cutting transport emissions and offering spectators 60 percent plant-based foods.
Another emissions-savings source is energy, representing only 1 percent of emissions. Organizers intend to use 100 percent renewable power from wind and solar farms, plus solar panels on some venues. Stadiums and temporary venues will get power from the grid instead of diesel generators, which produce much CO2. Giant electrical plugs at venues will remain post-Games, removing the need for generators at future events.
Judging sponsors
Reducing transportation-related emissions is arguably Paris' biggest challenge. Tourism officials expect 15.3 million visitors for the Olympics and Paralympics, including 1.9 million from outside France. Paris has low-carbon transport options — cycling routes, Metro trains, buses and other public transit — to all venues.
But the inability to control how people get to the Olympics raises questions about whether humanity can afford such get-togethers at the cost of further climate damage.
Seth Warren Rose of the Eneref Institute, an advocacy and research group focused on sustainable development, said organizers' efforts are laudable. However, they should have reduced emissions beyond half and found more ways to make sustainability a central experience.
The Upright Project, a Finnish company that analyzes data to evaluate companies' impact on the world, looked at sponsors, assigning scores for positive and negative impacts on environment, health, jobs and other metrics.
On the environment, sponsors' emissions had an overall sixfold negative impact.
In a statement, organizers said the Games presented “a unique opportunity to encourage partner businesses to adopt more responsible practices.”
For emissions it can't cut, Paris plans to compensate. Planting trees could help take CO2 out of the atmosphere that the Games put in. But offset markets aren't well regulated. Investigations by news organizations have found some projects to be fraudulent while others miscalculated the quantity of emissions captured.
Organizers continue to adapt sustainability plans as they go. The metal judging tower was scaled back in size in response to concerns about environmental harm. It will be dismantled after the Games, then erected and used again when Teahupo'o holds world surfing events.
Organizers expect 1,300 people with Olympic accreditation on the island including surfers, judges, journalists and Games workers.
Grenon maintained that “sustainability is a collective sport.” Admitting that they cannot expect perfection, she said that they are “working very, very hard to go as far as we can.”
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