[OPINION] Paris 2024: The Greenest Olympics Yet?

Paris 2024: The Greenest Olympics Yet?

By: Aerin Choy

Paris 2024, the most sustainable Olympics yet, boasts incredible statistics enough to make eco-friendly fans around the world not only cheer for the athletes but also the amount of progress towards saving the planet the IOC has made. Only two out of all the facilities were newly built, all building materials were made from either wood, low-carbon cement, or recycled materials. 60% of the food is plant-based and 80% of all ingredients were sourced locally. Even more, a promotion of Paris’ public transport system has reduced carbon emissions from tourist transport. Overall, compared to London 2012 and Rio 2016 with a carbon footprint of 3.3 million tonnes and 3.6 million tonnes, Paris 2024 with a goal of 1.58 million tonnes is on track and plans to offset the carbon make it an inspirational green Olympics.

At the same time, with all this exciting progress consumers need to dig a bit deeper. After being inspired by Disclose, an environmental justice NGO, I was interested in doing some internet sleuthing around the sponsors of the Games and my findings are presented in this article.

Coca-Cola: The World’s No. 1 Polluter
Coca-Cola has been one of the most prominent sponsors of the Olympic Games as well as the COP summits; however, they have been proven to be one of the biggest polluters on our planet. The company produces the most soft drinks in plastic bottles worldwide, with 500 billion bottles sold every year. Originally, the company sold the drinks in glass bottles but due to trends in using plastic in the industry, they transitioned to plastic. Although promises to collect and recycle every bottle sold by 2030 are displayed on their website, it looks dire in 2024, when data shows only 9% of all plastic is recycled.

Coca-Cola has admitted to producing 3 million tonnes of plastic packaging a year, contributing immensely to this crisis our planet faces. The particular transition from aluminum cans to a similar-sized plastic bottle has exacerbated the issue. The disconnect between the goals of the Olympics and its prominent sponsors suggests a darker take on how ‘green the grass’ in Paris is.

Bridgestone: Tires, tires and more tires
Bridgestone Corporations is a world-famous tire and rubber giant, an industry related to deforestation and pollution around the world. It was blamed for pollution in Liberian Rivers in 2005 and 15 years later the allegations still persist. Firestone, the largest rubber plantation owned by Bridgestone, has been blamed for polluting the water bodies of local communities. Local fishermen complain of the lack of fish and the smell of ammonia that even stings people's eyes. There were even allegations of child labor and exploitation of workers on the plantation. As their tires move athletes and staff to keep operations going,

VINCI: The company behind Qatar 2022 human rights violations
VINCI Construction was the parent company behind the 2022 Qatar World Cup, a sporting event whose stadiums are under scrutiny for labor rights violations. NGOs filed a complaint in 2015 for forced labor and servitude and days before the kick off the company was indicted. The NGO that spearheaded the investigation, Sherpa, compiled testimonies of the workers including stories of working in 45 degrees Celsius weather with insufficient hydration or shade, withholding passports, and workers fainting in the heat.

Decathlon: Greenwashing scandal
Decathlon, a French sportswear brand, was fined 430.5 thousand USD for making unsubstantiated claims on their labels. They used terms like ‘conscious clothing’ and ‘eco design’ without the appropriate evidence to support it. After the incident, the labels were changed. The company has been under fire for other greenwashing incidents alongside other fashion brands.

Arcelor Mittal: A major polluter in Europe
Arcelor Mittal was the creator of the 2024 Olympic Torch but is also one of the most polluting industrialists in Europe. The steel production company was caught in serious illegal pollution cases in 2022 for emitting a surplus of 17.4 million fine particles for at least four months between December 2022 to April 2023 in the UK and France.

In South Africa, the company was fined 205,000 Euros for excessive hydrogen sulfide emissions, those emissions can disrupt the nervous system and can cause death if too much is inhaled. In Mexico, ArcelorMittal was ordered to pay 30,000 USD for deforesting a UNESCO-listed area when expanding an iron ore mine. While in Liberia, the company has destroyed 883 farms, nearly 400 hectares of crops like cocoa and plantains as well as destroying hundreds of homes for more ore mines.

The company also has been linked to pollution around the area according to Green Advocates International NGO. The most painful depiction of the damages the company has created is in Bosnia. The city of Zenica, a former site of a production plant, is the 6th most toxic city in Europe according to the 2023 World Air Quality Report. There were violations for failing to treat wastewater, dumping slag waste into landfills, and polluting large freshwater ways that are critical for other industries. Interviews by the Guardian quote that the local air pollution causes cancer and the townspeople complained of difficulty breathing. In 2024, ArcelorMittal Zenica stopped coke production but the plant continued to work.

Dozens of environmentalists have traveled to Marseille to welcome the Olympic torch, another fleeting attempt to represent the environmental crimes that are virtually unseen.

Other sponsors with an iffy environmental record include CMA CGM. CMA CGM, the third largest shipping container company, was recently charged with multiple felonies for failing to maintain accurate oil records, tampering with evidence, discharging ballast water, and more. It violated the US EPA’s Clean Water Act and resulted in more than 200,000 USD in settlement penalties. Poor management of ballast water can disrupt habitats and other toxic chemicals can impact local marine life, potentially leading to invasive species issues.

My initial reaction to my internet sleuthing was disappointment, I had expected more from the Olympic Committee. At the same time, I realize how difficult it is to be sustainable in this day and age and many people have high expectations for society. The push for sustainability at this Olympics has been inspirational, powerful, and a catalyst for future change.

My initial view was unfair. I want to use my realizations to push for more platforms to use their influence to acknowledge flaws and imperfections in sustainability, to encourage the imperfect sustainable consumer. Through the recognition of imperfection, we become kinder to ourselves and become more understanding consumers to save the world.


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