The organizers of the Paris Olympic Games want them to be the most ecological in history, but athletes prioritize their health.
They were announced as “Greenest Olympic Games in history”but Paris 2024’s sustainability dreams are fading after organizers have ordered 2,500 air conditioners.
Originally designed without air conditioning, the Olympic Village in Paris is environmentally friendly and features a geothermal cooling system that pumps cold water from deep within the earth to maintain the indoor temperature in the rooms at least 6 degrees Celsius. lower than outside.
“I want the Paris Games to be exemplary from an environmental point of view,” Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo declared last year.
However, after protests from the different Olympic delegations, the organizers of the Paris Games now give permission to countries so that they can order portable units of air-conditioning, which will be installed for the duration of the Olympic event. This week it was announced that 2,500 devices have already been ordered.
Will the Paris 2024 Olympic Games continue to be the greenest in history?
The French capital, headquarters of the most important climate pact in history, the well-known Paris Agreementwas going to be obliged to organize Olympic Games that were respectful of the environment.
The organizers promised to reduce to more than the half carbon emissions, compared to London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro 2016, limiting them to the equivalent of 1.58 million tons of CO₂ for the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, which are held in the months of July and August.
The innovations in sustainability matter Achieving the cuts includes reducing the number of new buildings and using wood, low-carbon cement and reclaimed materials for unavoidable construction.
Digital infrastructure company Equinix supplies excess heat from data centers to heat the Olympic swimming pool in Paris, which contains 2.5 million liters of water, and the stadiums run on 100% renewable energysome of them have their own solar panels.
The catering will be 80% of local origin, and 60% of the total, of plant origin. All venues will have low-carbon transportation options. He surfing has been outsourced to Tahitito encourage people to watch it on television instead of flying to witness the tests.
Furthermore, the organizers’ program included the controversial decision not to include air-conditioning in rooms, which consumes 10% of the world’s electricity and emits greenhouse gases that warm the planet.
“I greatly respect the comfort of athletes, but I think much more about the survival of humanity,” Hidalgo declared last year about this measure.
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games could be the hottest in history
A report published last month, titled ‘Rings of Fire II: Heat Risks at the 2024 Paris Olympics’, described the 34 degree Celsius temperatures recorded at the 2021 Tokyo Games as “an example of an alarming situation, and that is increasing, for the summer Olympic Games.
The French meteorological service Météo France forecast for this summer, temperatures above normal throughout the countryand athletes expressed concern about the possible effects of extreme heat, such as bouts of cramps, exhaustion, heat stroke, and even death.
The sports delegations of the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada, Ireland, Greece and Australia announced that they would pay for their own air conditioners, and the Australian Olympic team even indicated that it was willing to spend more than 100,000 Australian dollars (about 62,000 euros) so that their athletes would not be overheated.
The organizers of the Paris Games agreed to facilitate the supply, announcing this week that 2,500 air conditioning units had been ordered. “The objective was to offer a very specific solution for athletes who are facing the match or competition of their lives, and who may need conditions for their comfort and recovery superior to those they would need in a normal summer,” says the deputy director of the Olympic VillageAugustin Tran Van Chau.
What other environmental controversies surround the Paris Olympic Games?
The air conditioning issue is not the only one environmental setback for the organizers of the Paris Games.
Last week it was learned that the Sena is still too dirty and contains countless fecal bacteria to host the opening ceremony of the Games or some of the planned swimming competitions, without endangering the health of the athletes.
In addition, organizers had to scrap plans to build a €4.6 million aluminum tower, with air conditioning, for the competitions to be held in Tahiti, following protests by local citizens over the damage caused. would cause to coral reefs. Thus, a less cumbersome and more environmentally friendly tower has been built.
