After Paris 2024, the Alps 2030? If nothing has yet been done, the machine is launched. France, through the Aura and Paca regions, submitted this Tuesday a joint application file to the International Olympic Committee for the organization of the 2030 Winter Games. They promise to be, according to the leaders of this project, “ sober” and “environmentally friendly”.
With this in mind, the events will focus on “two major Olympic poles” in each region. The Nice region (Nice and Isola 2000) and Briançon for the Southern Alps and Savoie (with Méribel/Courchevel, la Plagne, Val d’Isère) and Haute-Savoie (le Grand-Bornand and la Clusaz) for the Alps North.
Proposals from regional presidents for “sustainable” Games
But to respect this commitment, we must go further. Laurent Wauquiez then affirmed during a press conference on this subject that “the essential part of the candidacy was based on a heritage”, in particular that of the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics, and on know-how. TO DO. The stations mentioned above are “accustomed to international competitions” and are therefore equipped. Thus, “95% of the infrastructure” which will be used for the Olympic Games already exists. The “only” work (for a sports building) is the construction of an ice rink with a capacity of 10,000 seats, in Nice. Nothing has yet been decided regarding the speed skating track either. “There is no construction in France, it will either be a temporary site or the operation of a site abroad,” confided Laurent Wauquiez.
These Winter Olympics would be, according to the regional president, a way of “initiating a certain number of transformations, such as hydrogen snow groomers or valley lifts”. The French Alps also rely on “a carbon-free transport network”, mobility “used and privileged” during the Games, assure elected officials. They believe that the event will “accelerate” work on the networks, such as the Gap-Grenoble and Marseille-Briançon axis.
Ecologists from Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes against the project
“We still have no guarantee that these Games will be sustainable,” reacted, following this presentation, Claudie Ternoy-Leger of the Les Ecologistes group in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, who voted against the project during the last plenary assembly. For her, the organization of such an event is “a contradiction”. She cites the example of the UTMB which has “raised a lot of questions about the overcrowding of places in fragile environments”. She also mentions the “feedback” from the organization of the alpine skiing world championships in Méribel Courchevel. “We created a hill reservoir, in a context where water resources are scarce,” she says. She then thinks that the use of artificial snow will be inevitable, referring to the recent predictions.
Despite the emphasis on “know-how”, she recalls the need for “upgrading” of sports and public reception infrastructures and “that no TER had been added to the traffic during the championships of world “. She also does not believe that in six years, the two regions will be able to “improve the rail networks”. Claudie Ternoy-Leger is also surprised that the Olympics are needed to move this issue forward.
She concludes: “Sustainable Olympics are an illusion. Above all, it aggravates the current situation which is already not encouraging for our mountains, whose glaciers are melting visibly. » She immediately continues: “We are not against sport and the organization of competitions, but in this way, it is unsustainable. »
“We can no longer hold the Olympic Games”
“That the IOC organize local Olympics for us in our departments,” suggests Stéphane Passeron. We must do local sport, local agriculture, we must change the paradigm. The world as it is, it no longer works. » This spokesperson from the No JO collective has been campaigning against the holding of these games for a year.
“I prefer that these billions [les régions estiment un investissement à 1,5 milliard d’euros pour l’organisation] are used in hospitals, for important things than for two weeks of celebrations,” he explains. Before adding: “It’s sad but that’s how it is, we can no longer hold the Olympic Games. And yes, it’s me who says that, it pains me but we no longer have a choice. The planet is seriously ill. As the IPCC figures remind us, we are already well behind schedule. This summer, we passed the threshold not to be crossed [+1,5 °C] that we had set for ourselves during the Cop de Paris,” adds this former professional cross-country skier.
“It’s not because we’re going to have the Games that the snow will start falling again”
He criticizes those behind the 2030 Winter Olympics project for not realizing the climate emergency that “we are experiencing”. “We, who live in the mountains, see the changes due to global warming every day. But not once [les porteurs du projet] did not talk about scientists or the melting of glaciers, he points out. It is not the Games that will save the mountain economy, on the contrary. All the resorts are already wondering how to pay the electricity bills to run their ski lifts and snow cannons – because there are none anymore. It’s not because we’re going to have the Games that the snow will start falling again,” he says.
At the beginning of December, the IOC must announce the selected territories [la Suède et la Suisse sont également candidates] for the second phase of application, the final response to be announced in 2024. “Whatever the result, we know that we are leading a fight that we will lose,” concludes Stéphane Passeron. Because in any case, the 2030 Olympics will take place. And anywhere, it’s devastating for the planet. »