Spotlight on all the work done in recent months by the tourism industry to welcome the 15 million visitors expected to attend the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games. This is a major event that has required a great deal of planning, but has also led to a number of innovations in terms of hospitality, mobility and sustainability. France's image is at stake over the next few weeks, and these players are determined to win gold on all fronts.
Sustainable and accessible Games?
The City of Paris has promised that the Games will be sustainable and popular, making the event part of the responsible tourism movement. The ambition is to deliver exemplary Games in both environmental and social terms.
The challenge of greening the Games
In the Paris 2024 Legacy and Sustainability Plan, the objectives include guaranteeing carbon-neutral Games, deploying a circular economy, contributing to the economic development of Seine-Saint-Denis, promoting equality and inclusion, and using sport as a lever for professional integration.
The organisers have set a carbon budget of 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent for these Games, with the aim of more or less halving the emissions associated with the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympic Games. While this decarbonisation objective is laudable, the ways in which it will be achieved remain unclear, according to Carbon Market Watch, an independent, not-for-profit monitoring and research organisation.
The organisation highlights the efforts of the organisers, who have favoured reuse and conversation over construction where possible - 90% of the sites already existed - as well as promoting vegetarian menus that are less harmful to the environment. The Olympic Village, which was built for the occasion, will be transformed once the Games are over to accommodate housing and various activities. In total, the project will accommodate 6,000 new residents and 6,000 employees.
Strategically, we have looked to the future. We have built a major neighbourhood project with 200,000 m2 of housing, 100,000 m2 of offices and 12,000 m2 of shops and businesses on the ground floor. We wanted this project to symbolise and give concrete expression to our ambition to have Games that are truly aligned with the Paris agreements.
Antoine du Souich, Director of Strategy and Innovation, Solideo (Olympic Delivery Company)
However for Benja Faecks, policy expert at...
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