Paris is aiming for the most sustainable Olympics yet. Organizers acknowledge the plan isn't perfect
Organizers of the Paris Olympics have set ambitious goals for environmental sustainability
PARIS — Of all the decisions Paris Olympics organizers made about where to hold each sport, sending surfing competitions to the other side of the world — in the Pacific waters of Tahiti — provoked the strongest reactions. Tahitians and others railed against the building of a new viewing tower on Teahupo’o reef because of fears it would hurt marine life.
But organizers say it wasn’t just the world-class waves that lured them to the French territory 16,000 kilometers (9,942 miles) away. Paris Olympic officials had set an ambitious target of halving their overall carbon footprint compared with the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Games.
Tahiti’s surfing reef is too far offshore for fans to see the action clearly from the beach, so organizers say they calculated that most would watch on television instead of taking flights, a major source of carbon emissions.
And fewer spectators, they said, would require little new construction, another key emissions source.
“We actually did the math,” said Georgina Grenon, director of environmental excellence for the Paris Games. “There was less impact in Tahiti compared to other metropolitan areas.”
Tahiti's selection provides a window into Games organizers' approach to hitting their goal of reducing emissions, the driver of climate change. It also underscores an inherent tension in the drive for sustainability: There are tradeoffs, and reducing emissions doesn’t necessarily mean preserving the environment.
Organizers’ goal is to limit emissions to 1.58 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent for the July 26-Aug. 11 Games and Paralympics that follow. That's still a lot of pollution — equal to that of
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