As the planet faces ever more pressing environmental challenges including fast dwindling natural resources, the idea of a circular economy is often put forward as a promising alternative.
Sport organisations are no strangers to this trend. In France, a number of them are working hard to slash their events’ carbon footprints. Ecotrail, for example, which organises annual running contests in the suburbs of Paris, gifts public transport tickets to the start line to all its participants and covers the train journeys of its runners. However, the circularity of mega sport events is still a work in progress.
A leader in this field, the Paris 2024 Organising Committee has set out to halve the greenhouse gas emissions released by the Rio 2016 or London 2012 Games, estimated at an average 3.5 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent (Mt CO2 eq). It is the first Olympics organisation committee to have appointed a Circular Economy Officer.
