Carbon Footprint and Value Chain Co-Construction from the Paris Olympics Carbon Footprint Halving Targets and Practices

Against the backdrop of the climate crisis, the goal of carbon neutrality is becoming more and more familiar, and carbon footprints, as an integral part of the process of achieving carbon neutrality, are also being emphasized at this Olympics. So what exactly is a carbon footprint?

A carbon footprint is an important indicator of carbon emissions.

A carbon footprint is a measure of the total amount of climate change-related gases emitted during human production and consumption activities from a life-cycle perspective, analyzing the life cycle of a product or the carbon processes directly and indirectly related to the activity, including both direct emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels during manufacturing, heating and transportation, and indirect carbon emissions from the goods and services produced and consumed.

The 2024 Paris Olympics aim to halve the carbon footprint of Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3, which is benchmarked against recent Olympic Games, which are projected to emit 3.5 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. This excludes the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which will have no spectators and therefore significantly fewer aviation emissions. The estimated carbon footprint of the 2024 Paris Olympics is 1.58 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, even lower than the target of 1.75 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, organizers said.

Fewer new venues

Unlike the previous Olympic Games, Paris will be 95% of the event activities in the Olympic Games in existing or temporary venues; for the Olympic Games, only the new Olympic Village / Paralympic Village, Le Bourget Sports Climbing Hall, Aquatic Center, La Chaux-de-Fonds Stadium and a few other venues.
For existing venues, the French, in addition to refurbishing sports venues, have also turned some famous attractions into Olympic venues by building temporary facilities. For example, the Palace of Versailles, after the temporary construction of the competition venue for the Paris Olympics equestrian events and modern pentathlon; the venue for the Olympic and Paralympic fencing and taekwondo competitions is the Grand Palais in Paris, which was constructed for the Paris World's Fair in 1900; and beach volleyball competitions are scheduled to be held at the Eiffel Tower Stadium.

Utilization of recycled materials

The Organizing Committee used a large number of recycled, renewable and environmentally friendly materials to build the venues. For example, the purple track in the Stade de France, which was built for the track and field competition, utilized a variety of environmentally friendly materials such as natural rubber, mineral components, pigments and additives, with approximately 50% of the materials coming from recycled or renewable sources.
Even the podium on this occasion was made entirely of recycled plastic as well as plastic foam food containers.
In the Olympic Village, the athletes' beds and mattresses are made of recycled reinforced cardboard and recycled fishing nets respectively, highlighting the Olympic Committee's green philosophy.

Green Energy

In terms of energy, all venues at the Games were connected to the grid to limit the use of diesel generators. France's electricity structure is already low in terms of carbon intensity, and the electricity for the Olympics will be further decarbonized through 5,000 square meters of solar photovoltaic panels on the roof of the Olympic Aquatics Center, which will take up 25% of the building's electricity consumption, and the rooftop photovoltaic will be the largest urban solar photovoltaic array in France in the future. Meanwhile, France's national electricity utility, Électricité de France (EDF), will provide the Paris 2024 Winter Olympics with Guarantees of Origin (GOs), certifying that six wind farms and two solar farms in France have injected green electricity into the grid equal to the amount consumed at the Games.
In addition to the use of renewable energy, the Games are also planning accordingly in terms of energy use in the Olympic Village. Instead of providing air-conditioning, the Olympic Village will use high-performance insulation to minimize the absorption of heat into the buildings and keep them cool through a ventilation system with a cooling system that will keep the buildings 6 to 10 degrees cooler than the outdoor temperature. At the same time, an underground piping system was constructed and connected to a geothermal power plant, which uses cold underground water for cooling in the summer and hot water for heating in the winter.