How our Olympic climbers are supporting the Paris 2024 ‘Ecolympics’

Olympics
31 Jul
8 min read

With four GB Climbing athletes heading across the channel for the Olympic boulder and lead competitions starting Monday 5 August, not only are they bringing their A-game in terms of performance but, as part of the BMC, the whole team is supporting Paris 2024 in its bid to be the ‘greenest ever Games’. 

The sport climbers representing Great Britain, Erin McNeice, Molly Thompson-Smith, Toby Roberts and Hamish McArthur have all travelled to the Olympics on the Eurostar, helping the organisers of Paris 2024 fulfil their commitment to halving the carbon footprint of the Games compared to London 2012 and Rio 2016. This aligns with both the UN’s Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the BMC’s commitment to Net Zero by 2040.

Jon Garside, Acting Head of Performance for GB Climbing, says, “All our athletes have travelled on the Eurostar, one of TeamGB’s partners for Paris 2024. Athletes at the Games are then given a Navigo Travel Card, providing them with free public transport throughout Paris.

“When we were taken from Gare du Nord to the Olympic Village in official Paris 2024 taxis, they were electric vehicles. In the Village itself, I saw bins for recyclables and non-recyclables, as you would expect. There are also bikes and little electric buggies, and TeamGB provide staff and team leaders like myself with Brompton bikes.”

The women's selection from the Olympic qualifiers in Budapest celebrate

Is this the Ecolympics?

An admirable 95% of the total Olympic venues used will be existing or temporary venues, and the temporary ones will be dismantled for future reuse after the Games. Along with the Aquatics Centre, Le Bourget Climbing venue is the only sports facility to be built especially for Paris 2024. After the Games the indoor facilities will be left for Le Bourget to be used by clubs and residents.

According to Global Sustainable Sport, the International Olympic Committee's Director for Sustainability Marie Sallois says, “Paris 2024 is setting new standards for future events.” The Games will use 100% renewable energy, including solar panels on the Aquatics Centre and Olympic Village. Plant-based food will be doubled, single-use plastics in catering will be reduced by 50% and free drinking water points will be available for spectators so reusable bottles can be used.

Public transport is used extensively at Paris 2024. Image: Alexandros Michailidis / Shutterstock

BMC Policy & Campaigns Officer Dr. Cath Flitcroft says, “We applaud the incredible efforts of the Paris 2024 organisers in reducing carbon emissions. We hope that the tide will turn for all future sports as the world wakes up to the idea that sustainability and ecological practices are the most logical approach for a future that still contains humans.

“With over 200 countries participating in the Olympics and 184 in the Paralympics, roughly 15 million visitors and two billion viewers worldwide, Paris 2024 will still serve as a platform for raising awareness and enthusiasm about sustainability and the environment.

“In the meantime, here at the BMC, we’re continuing to reduce our carbon footprint and campaign for the environment with our forthcoming Climate and Sustainability action plan. Through The Climate Project, we’re also saving over 60,000 tonnes of carbon each year by planting sphagnum moss and seagrass, both of which have a huge carbon capture capacity equal to, and even beyond, that of rainforest. Please help our cause by joining the BMC, donating, or volunteering on one of these projects.”

The Paris 2024 Olympics Opening Ceremony. Image: TeamGB

The BMC Environmental and Sustainability Policy acts as a high-level statement of intent and commits us to:

1. Quantify, as far as reasonably practical, the environmental impacts of the BMC as an organisation

2. Seek to reduce the biodiversity, landscape and climate change impacts of travel to and within mountain environments

3. Work to enhance and protect mountain environments from not only the aspect of their use for climbing, mountaineering and walking, but also for their own intrinsic value and for the benefit of their communities

4. Help to manage expectations (educate and inform members and wider mountain users) in an evolving and changing landscape

5. Support and enhance mountain and upland economies

6. Lobby and make representations to decision makers, and working with other organisations to secure the BMC environmental vision

Support The Climate Project campaign from the BMC's Access & Conservation Trust

Through The Climate Project, we’re saving over 60,000 tonnes of carbon each year by planting sphagnum moss and seagrass, both of which have a huge carbon capture capacity equal to, and even beyond, that of rainforest.

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