Anna Gerke, Associate Professor at Audencia, Member of the Scientific Committee, Think Tank Sport and Citizenship, explores if the Paris Olympics set a new standard for the circular economy at sporting events.
As the planet faces increasingly urgent environmental challenges, including the rapid depletion of natural resources, the circular economy and its principles offer promising solutions.
Sports organisations are beginning to adopt circular economy practices at various levels – whether at the product, organisational, or even the entire industry or ecosystem level.
Mega sports events, which typically consume vast amounts of resources, require innovative solutions to enhance their sustainability.
The Paris 2024 Olympic Games have set a new standard in this regard. As International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach highlighted at the closing ceremony, these Games marked the beginning of a new era.
They were not only the first to achieve gender parity among competitors but were also the most sustainable Olympics to date.
The Paris 2024 organisation committee is the first Olympics organisation committee to have appointed a Circular Economy Officer, and in November 2023 they published their strategy for sustainability.
But how might they succeed in leaving a more sustainable legacy, through circular economy principles, than previous games?
The circular economy at the Paris Olympics
Paris 2024 has aimed to set a precedent by integrating sustainable practices into every aspect of the Games, demonstrating the potential for large-scale sports events to adopt and benefit from circular economy strategies.
Let’s analyse these efforts in light of recent advances in circular economy research to understand their potential impact.
The circular economy can be broken down into three key principles: First, eliminating the use of virgin resources by designing out waste and pollution; second, relying entirely on renewable resources as sole sources of energy; and third, inventing regenerative designs embedded in socio-economic systems.
To implement these principles, circular strategies include prolonging the use of products, materials and resources, and developing new models to satisfy these needs.
These principles should be applied while maintaining social equity and environmental stewardship.
A winning strategy for more sustainability
The Paris 2024 organising committee published ten commitments to achieve a “more circular games”.
For example, 95% of the infrastructure used for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games either already existed or was temporary.
This meant a considerable reduction in new construction, thereby almost eliminating the use of virgin resources.
By using pre-existing venues and temporary structures, the Games minimised the environmental impact of new buildings.
The organising committee was also committed to maximising the reuse of materials or products used during the games.
They have mandated that 100% of the furniture from the venue and all temporary infrastructure be repurposed and given a second life after the Games. In addition, the subcontractors were required to incorporate second-life aspects in their projects.
This commendable approach reflects Paris 2024’s commitment to extending its circular economy ambitions throughout the event’s supply network.
90% of marketing and signage products will be redeployed, reused or recycled after the Games.
Waste, energy and other issues
The goal of the organising committee is to avoid or recover 80% of consumption waste during the Games. They aimed for a 50% reduction of single-use plastic waste compared to previous games.
However, they could have achieved much more by entirely replacing plastic-based products with organic material-based products.
The first green Olympic flame, soaring high in the airborne Olympic Cauldron above the Tuileries Gardens – a tribute to the Montgolfier brothers and powered solely by green electricity – captured everyone’s imagination.
This remarkable achievement underscores the commitment to sustainability. However, overall, the issues of energy consumption, energy sources, emissions, and pollution generated by the Games were not widely addressed in the circular economy strategy of the Paris 2024 organising committee.
Little attention was given to alternative consumption models such as rental, leasing and sharing. For example, only 60% of the sports, technology and security equipment was leased rather than bought.
While local production should be favoured, only 15% of licensed products used were made in France and use organic or recycled materials.
This is a rather poor result, given the emphasis on small-scale, local production and consumption circuits as key features of the circular economy.
So, in conclusion, the Paris 2024 organising committee deserves recognition for its genuine, serious and substantial effort to make the Olympic Games more circular. However, the challenge now passes to Los Angeles to push these initiatives even further and ensure that the 2028 Games become truly circular.
