PARIS 2024

WHAT CONCRETE ACTION HAS BEEN TAKEN TO LIMIT THE ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT OF THE PARIS OLYMPIC GAMES? AN OVERVIEW OF COMMITMENTS MADE.

Games Operations

- 100% renewable electricity for the Games

- Sustainable catering service to provide 15 million meals during the event

- Responsible digital technology

- Zero waste undertaking and zero waste objective

Construction

- 95% temporary or existing sites

- Low carbon permanent constructions

- Sober temporary constructions

Transport

- A specific mobility service for the Olympic family

- 100% of sites accessible by public transport or active mobility

A neutral or negative carbon footprint

- 55% of greenhouse gas emissions compared with London 2012 and the goal of being the 1st global event to make a positive contribution to the climate

- Paris 2024 aims to offset its CO2 emissions through CO2 prevention and capture schemes for unavoidable emissions. Apart from the ARO method (Avoid, Reduce, Offset), the organising committee is going further by adding two stages:

- Anticipating the carbon footprint using an estimation tool

- Avoiding emissions thanks to the use of existing infrastructure

- A new ‘Climate Coach’ app to help people understand and reduce their environmental impact

- A responsible purchasing strategy which urges partners and suppliers to implement sustainability criteria

- An Ecological Transformation Committee for the Games composed of a total of 9 experts and presided by Gilles Bœuf, a biodiversity expert and Professor at the Sorbonne

- Collaboration with WWF France to develop the strategy

- Participation in the ‘Sports for Climate Action’ initiative of the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change

The autonomous Italian region of Val d’Aosta, with financial support from Europe (Feder), has decided to boost mountain innovation by rolling out the Smart Valley programme. It is coordinating eight R&D projects, helping project managers to seek funding, with communication or skills development and fostering the exchange of knowledge and technologies between beneficiaries and regional research centres. “Usually, everyone manages their own project individually. Smart Valley has found a new way of collaborating and is fostering emulation which leads to more projects and ideas”, explains Roberta Davisod, consultant at FI group, which specialises in public financing strategy consulting for R&D. Quintetto is one of the eight lucky elected representatives. The small company, specialising in R&D since 2005, is developing the Qroom + project. Up to four people can communicate at the same time remotely by hologram and can exchange documents.

In the museum sector meanwhile, the 3D Lab by Turin Polytechnic is working on a Media project – a mobile app that serves as a guide. It is a web platform for cultural operators, including the Archaeological Museum of Herculaneum, and incorporates 3D, virtual and augmented reality and explores the emotions felt by visitors as they discover the collections. It offers a 3.0 immersive visit, with enriched content, for both in-person and remote tours.

In terms of tourism, Kria has come up with Montur to gauge flows, the characteristics and habits of visitors to Val d’Aosta, by using cameras and sensors already installed in the region, as well as artificial intelligence.

Smart Valley is also financing the company CCS to formulate a new microbial bio-stimulant to help hay meadows in Val d’Aosta, using fungus and bacteria. The aims are to boost yield, obtain greater nutritional qualities for animal feed and additional CO2 storage in microaggregates.

Olympic sports, winter sports, digital sports and even meta sports all on one site. Is this utopia or just a futuristic fantasy? Whatever it is, it’s a promise... and already a work in progress in Trojena, the mountain setting for the Neom project in the heart of the Saudi Arabian desert!

Crazy as it may sound, the 2029 Asian Winter Games will be held in Trojena, a futuristic city that does not yet exist but is part of a titanic urban planning project called Neom (a megalopolis 250 times the size of Paris).

Located about 70 kilometres north of The Line, between the Hijaz Mountains in the Saudi Arabian desert, Trojena is set to become nothing short of an El Dorado of leisure, adventure, and culture in the region.

The future tourist area spanning around 60 kilometres squared is expected to be set at between 1,500 and 2,600 metres of elevation. The site will include a huge artificial freshwater lake, a next-gen cave village called “The Vault” in the shape of an upside-down V, luxury residences with 3,600 hotel rooms and 2,200 homes on the lakefront, a ski resort slightly outside the city, and an observatory for taking in the breathtaking views of the mountains and the Saudi desert.

The architectural teams behind this huge project hope that Trojena will become a popular destination for international tourists in search of adventure and luxury.

Patrick Bayeux, a global sports observer, consultant, teacher, researcher, and doctor of management sciences, compares the Neom project and its three sites (Oxagon, The Line and Trojena) to Las Vegas. There was nothing a century ago where the U.S. city now stands, and today it has 650,000 inhabitants and welcomes an average of 40 million tourists every year. It is safe to assume that Neom and Trojena have similar prospects in terms of tourists and locals alike...

Closer to home, in France, Patrick Bayeux extends the comparison to the coasts of the Roussillon region. There was nothing there before the rise of seaside resorts such as Port-Camargue in Grau-du-Roi, Grande-Motte, Cap d’Agde, Gruissan, Port Leucate, Port Barcares and Saint Cyprien. Comparisons do not always hold up, but in this case, we should put any controversies into perspective and perhaps put our own house in order before overly criticizing…