83 bottles of wine per person: how experts are calculating the Paris Olympics’ carbon footprint

It’s time to reinvent the Olympic Games and mega-events to align them with international climate goals, they could actively help their host region’s energy and climate transition, such as through urban regeneration, writes Anne de Bortoli

The accommodation at the Olympic Village site in Paris which will be used by the Ireland Olympic Team. Set to greet 14,500 athletes during the Olympic Games and 9,000 athletes during the Paralympics, the village has pledged to a carbon footprint that is 30% smaller by comparison to a conventional construction project. Photo: Mike Egerton/PA

The 2024 Paris Olympics aim to be the greenest edition on record, and the first compatible with the Paris climate agreement. 

Talk of “green games” goes back to April 2021. At the time, the Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (OCOG) had even aspired to carbon neutrality by removing more greenhouse gases from the atmosphere than those generated by the games.