How do you produce a global sporting event that brings millions of people to a single city in the age of global warming?
It's a test for this summer's Paris Olympics.
Organizers say the games are climate-fighting. They say these Olympics will emit less than half the greenhouse gas emissions of recent Olympics. That means tightening the belts on everything that creates emissions that cause global warming: electricity, food, buildings, transportation, and the jet fuel burned by athletes and fans traveling the world to get there. Also included.
The event, which draws 10,500 athletes and an estimated 15 million spectators, naturally has a negative impact on the environment. And that has led people who love the Olympics but hate air pollution to suggest that the Games be distributed around the world in existing facilities, eliminating the need for new construction and air travel. That's why Paris is attracting so much attention.
That leaves more space for bikes and less space for cars. Huge diesel generators, which are essential for large-scale sporting events, will be phased out. More plants, less steak au poivre, and a menu for guests that is grown and prepared with less pollution than typical French cuisine. The solar panels will temporarily float on the Seine River.
But the organizers' most important act may be what they're not doing: not building. At least, not that much.
Instead of building new exhibits for the Olympics (which emit large amounts of greenhouse gases from concrete and steel manufacturing), the Paris Olympics will instead build on the Grand Palais, the square known as the Concorde, and even existing buildings in Paris. Many of its tourist attractions have been reused. A swimming pool built for the 1924 Paris Olympics.
It's not without controversy.
One notable emissions reduction effort, the decision to eliminate traditional air conditioning in the Olympic Village, has raised concerns. Instead, the building relies on a cooling system that uses water pumped from underground. Some Olympic teams are considering bringing their own air conditioning.
Still, it is hoped that such experiments will provide a template for other future Olympics and other cities around the world. Some new buildings being constructed, such as athlete housing, swimming facilities, and arenas, are using less cement and more wood. Solar panels are installed on the roof and there is also greenery.
The new building is also intended to have a lifespan far beyond the Olympics. They are designed to be used by local residents for decades to come, and Paris 2024 organizing committee leaders say they will revitalize the city's suburbs. “We have set ourselves ambitions that have never been set for any event before, let alone of this scale,” said Georgina Glennon, the Games' head of environmental action.
Critics say that while much of what Paris is doing is laudable, especially limiting new construction, truly addressing the climate crisis will require more than just cutting emissions here and there. I am objecting. “We need to fundamentally rethink these huge mega-events,” says César Dugast, co-founder of a climate analysis group called Eclairise. “Rather than concentrating all the events in one city, he could also spread them out around the world.”
“It's a big test.”
A more pressing risk facing the Olympics is climate change itself. Rising global temperatures are making Paris' summers dangerously hot. This has raised concerns about how athletes and fans will be protected in late July and into August.
City officials said they have planted thousands of trees in recent years to help ease the summer heat. They are building mist towers to atomize the air. I'm looking for a wide umbrella that my fans can wait in. “We have a solution. We are preparing,” said Dan Rath, the city's deputy mayor in charge of heat preparedness. “It's a big test.”
One major difference between the Paris Games and previous Olympics is that there are limits on the total amount of emissions generated during the Games. The goal: less than half the greenhouse gas emissions of the 2012 Olympics in London.
London was chosen as a benchmark because its organizers also measured emissions in an effort to reduce emissions. Such estimates are based on standard measures, such as how much carbon dioxide is produced by the amount of cement used in a new building.
Paris organizers say they will offset emissions by buying “carbon credits” to fund emissions reduction projects around the world. Tournament organizers have not disclosed what projects the tournament will fund or how much they will cost. In any case, the market for carbon credits can be uncertain, and some projects have failed to deliver on their promises.
Refashioning a historic city
What Paris is doing shows what can be done to reshape an old city for a new global climate. It also shows what the limits are.
Place de la Concorde is an 18th-century square that was once the site of a guillotine during the French Revolution, and will host Olympic competitions such as skateboarding this summer.
The plaza now also houses an unassuming metal box designed to foster the power revolution. Here you'll find a high-power outlet connected to the national grid, allowing you to untie your diesel at any big event on the square.
Diesel generators are the secret to sporting events. Usually transported by truck to provide a steady source of power.
The Paris Games also entered into special agreements with power companies, conditional on ensuring there is enough wind and solar energy on the grid to generate all the energy consumed at the Games.
Transportation is another headache when it comes to emissions. Paris already limits space for cars to make room for bicycles, and is using the game to accelerate that change.
But the Olympics, which will draw large crowds, could pose problems for Parisians' transportation, with many planning to flee during the holidays.
Pierre Rabadin, a former professional rugby player and current deputy mayor of Paris Sport, shoulders high against the wind as he trots out of the tram stop in front of the city's new basketball stadium at the top of Rue du Chapelle. He pointed to a nearly completed bike lane along the road, carved out of what used to be a wide thoroughfare for motorists.
Since Anne Hidalgo was elected mayor in 2014, around 600 kilometers of bike lanes have been added to Paris. About 10% are called Olympists, a play on the French word for track, “piste.”
“The problem is that we built our cities around cars,” Rabadan said.
Another problem is that the city's subway system is bursting at the seams. Trains are already crowded and workers are rushing to complete the new two-line extension in time for the games.
To free up space for Olympic visitors, the city asked people not to ride trains or work from home.
tarzan and the old pool
Key to organizers' climate change strategy is to build as little as possible. For this reason, the event will utilize the Georges Valéry swimming pool, a remnant from the 1924 Paris Olympics.
It features a new air filtration system and a new roof that keeps heat and cold out while letting in light. Old wooden roof beams are being repurposed as countertops. The wooden bleachers that were installed at least 40 years ago are still standing. The sturdy stucco walls show the age of the pool.
“You don't have to throw everything in the trash or destroy everything and put it in the trash,” Rabadan said.
The pool has history. This is where American swimmer Johnny Weissmuller won his gold medal in 1924. He went on to play Tarzan in a series of Hollywood films, Rabadan enthusiastically points out.
Approximately 95% of the venues used for the 2024 Games will be old buildings or temporary structures. For example, some temporary pools are built for gaming, then dismantled and reinstalled in communities lacking public pools.
“Laboratory”
Mr Glennon said the Olympics provided a “laboratory”, especially when it came to buildings designed from scratch.
A new aquatic center on the edge of a highway on the northern outskirts of Saint-Denis is a centerpiece of Douglas firs and pines. The 5,000 square meter roof curves like a wave. Architects designed it that way to reduce the size of the building and reduce the energy needed to heat the space.
The pool is 5 meters deep only if required for diving, otherwise shallow. This also saves water and the energy needed to heat it. Some of that heat comes from nearby data centers. His 5,000 seats at the venue are made from recycled plastic.
Cecilia Gross, one of the architects, said the goal was to “build something better with less.”
The biggest new Olympic project coming up nearby is the 128-acre Olympic Village complex, which will then be transformed into a mixed district housing 6,000 residents. Builders say it produces at least 30 percent fewer emissions than traditional projects of its size.
Timber is the star here too. Most of the buildings in this village are made of wood.
Wood has an environmental cost depending on how it is grown, but it is considered much more sustainable than concrete.
In the village, a small section of the sidewalk is lined with oyster shells, which provide water from an underground reservoir to cool the sidewalk on hot days. One laboratory building plans to recycle all its water. To cool the grounds, his 9,000 trees have been planted, including native species such as oaks and elms that can withstand future heat.
Then there's the unconventional air conditioning.
A network of pipes, using water that is first sent underground and cooled, cools the interior of the building in a technique known as a geoexchange system. St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City uses something similar, but with air instead of water. Some U.S. universities are also switching to Earth Exchange.
Builders say that along with shady trees, insulation and a breeze from the river, interior temperatures will remain cool enough for future Parisian summers. But organizers say Olympic teams will still be free to bring in air conditioning.
The United States, Canada and Norway have said they intend to do so. So are Australia and Ireland, according to reports. In an interview with Reuters, Mayor Hidalgo urged the team to “trust the science.”
