In the series of topics that are born in the coffee machine, this one arises there, and we do not thank our colleague Emilie. “And if you calculated the carbon footprint of the Olympic flame, that’s a good idea, right? “. Great idea, but how to do it? After hours of twisting carbon footprint calculators in all directions, like the one from the foundation Good Planet or that of Our climate actionsexcellent, we had to face the facts: it was impossible to arrive at a clear figure for this ultimate symbol of the Games.
If Paris 2024 has clearly insisted on its desire for “more responsible” Games, there are nonetheless gray areas on the sustainability and the effects on the climate of such an event, and in particular on the route of the Olympic flame from Olympia to Paris. Its journey from the Greek cradle to the host city is one of the most symbolic events associated with the Games. But is it doomed to disappear for ecological reasons? In other words, does it pollute so much that we could one day erase it from the festivities?
Strong choices regarding the environment, proclaims Paris 2024
But let’s come back to our flame and the relay that surrounds it. Lit on April 16, it traveled for eleven days across Greece, carried by six hundred torchbearers across seven islands, ten archaeological sites and the rock of the Acropolis, and even spent a night next to the Parthenon. Then direction the port of Piraeus, south of Athens, to board the Belem on April 26, the three-masted ship which will take her to Marseille on May 8, where 150,000 spectators will await her.
“ Bringing the flame to Marseille, by sail, is a way of sending a strong ecological message, rejoices Georgina Grenon, the environmental excellence director of Paris 2024. We also worked on reducing the size of the convoy that accompanies the torch and with the host cities so that they connect as much as possible to the network and avoid using generators for their festivities. » »
The next day, the Olympic relay will begin on French soil, with visits planned to the Notre-Dame de la Garde basilica or the Stade Vélodrome. The flame will then cross the country, visiting the Antilles and Polynesia in particular, to Paris, where the opening ceremony of the Games will take place on July 26. For the moment, Paris 2024 has not yet wished to communicate on the “strong actions put in place to reduce carbon emissions during the Olympic torch relay”.
An exemplary carbon footprint… for the future?
For the NGO Carbon Market Watch, “it is clear that the Olympic Games cannot be truly compatible with respecting the barrier of 1.5 degrees of warming”, the most ambitious objective of the Paris agreement, “unless radically rethink » their organization. Paris 2024 forecasts the emission of some 1.58 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent, or less than half of the 3.5 million tonnes on average for the London (2012) and Rio (2016) Games. But the objective “seems at first glance ambitious” and “difficult to verify”, carbon experts warn.
“Today, it’s complicated to project such a carbon footprint,” analyzes Justine Birot, sustainable sport expert and co-pilot of the Let’s Decarbonize the Stadiums report for the Shift Project. Until the event takes place, it is difficult to anticipate.” Especially since Paris 2024 has few figures to compare with, other than examining the projects of previous editions, but which contain very little verifiable data on the subject.
Changes towards sustainable sport?
The expert, who hopes to eventually produce a complete report on the ecological footprint of daily sporting practice, is still pinning some hopes on this XXL event. “We can be pleased that the Olympics allow us to accelerate some good practices towards sustainability in sport. But afterward, will there be a real effect? Will this event really accelerate the ecological transition of sport? I don’t know. »
As for Paris 2024, there is no doubt. “We have set ourselves objectives, never before put on the table for JOPs, to halve our carbon footprint compared to previous editions,” explains Georgina Grenon. For the design of the torch in particular, the organizing teams estimated the carbon impact on previous editions of manufacturing and operation at around a hundred tonnes. “For the Paris Games, we reduced it to six tonnes.” Recipe ? 2,000 torches produced instead of 10 to 12,000, “rechargeable and reusable rather than single-use”, less polluting materials “with 100% recycled steel and French biogas for ignition”.
But will “looking for reductions wherever possible, and showing that we could organize these Games in a different way” be enough to convince that the Games and all their associated symbols that the carbon footprint generated is sustainable? For Carbon Market Watch, “this is encouraging but more needs to be done”. Even eliminating the Olympic torch relay? The hot potato will be for Los Angeles in 2028.