How 2024 Paris Olympics organisers are planning for the most sustainable Games yet, and why not everyone is satisfied

The carbon footprint of the 2024 Paris Olympics will be half that of previous Games or less, organisers intend. Sustainable food and building practices help

There are trade-offs. Surfing events in spectator-unfriendly Tahiti may reduce air travel but new viewing infrastructure drew fire for harming the environment

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Workers on a crane at the Aquatics Centre under construction in Paris, where swimming events will take place during the 2024 Olympics. Organisers are employing sustainable practices in areas from venue construction to food provision, but some say their efforts aren’t enough. Photo: AP

Published: 4:15am, 4 Jun 2024Updated: 5:29am, 4 Jun 2024

Of all the decisions Paris Olympics organisers made about where to hold each sport, sending surfing competitions to the other side of the world – to the Pacific waters of Tahiti – provoked the strongest reactions.

Tahitians and others railed against the building of a viewing tower on Teahupo’o reef amid fears it would damage marine life.

But organisers say it was not just the world-class waves that lured them to the French territory 16,000km (10,000 miles) away.

Paris Olympic officials had set an ambitious target of halving their overall carbon footprint compared with the 2012 London and 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.

A surfer rides a wave in Teahupo’o, Tahiti. Photo: AP

Tahiti’s surfing reef is too far offshore for fans to see the action clearly from the beach, so organisers are calculating that most will watch on television instead of taking flights – which are a major source of carbon emissions.

And fewer spectators, they say, requires little new construction – another significant source of emissions.