The True Cost of the 2024 Olympics – Financial & Environmental

Introduction:

The world watched in awe as Paris hosted the 2024 Olympics, a spectacular event filled with sporting excellence and unity. Yet, as the lights dimmed and the crowds dispersed, the lingering financial and environmental costs became clearer. Hosting the Games wasn’t just an achievement for athletes, but also a massive financial and carbon burden for the host city and the planet.

Rising Financial Costs:

This data includes operational and construction costs. It does not include wider capital costs, such as investments in urban and transportation infrastructure, which can be substantial.

Like many of its predecessors, the 2024 Paris Olympics faced escalating costs. Initially projected at $8.7 billion, the final expenses exceeded expectations, once again underscoring the trend of ballooning budgets. This isn’t a new phenomenon—past hosts like Rio de Janeiro, Sochi, and Tokyo all saw their costs soar far beyond initial estimates.

Looking at past Olympic Games:

1. 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics: $11.6 billion

2. 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics: $8.3 billion

3. 2012 London Summer Olympics: $16.8 billion

4. 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics: $28.9 billion

5. 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics: $23.6 billion

6. 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics: $13.7 billion

Paris 2024 aimed to break this cycle, emphasizing sustainability and financial prudence. However, despite the best efforts, the city now joins the ranks of host cities grappling with long-term economic strain, much like Athens, which still deals with the aftermath of its 2004 Games.

Source: Budzier and Flyvbjerg.

The Hidden Carbon Footprint:

One of the key pledges for Paris 2024 was to host the greenest Olympics in history. However, despite ambitious carbon-offsetting measures and sustainability initiatives, the Games still left a substantial carbon footprint. The construction of new venues, international travel, and the influx of millions of visitors resulted in thousands of tons of CO2 emissions, a reality that the organizers could not fully mitigate.

Paris 2024 attempted a “contribution approach” to carbon management, aiming for transparency by acknowledging the challenges in achieving a fully carbon-neutral event. This was a refreshing contrast to previous events like the 2022 Qatar World Cup, where carbon-neutral claims were met with skepticism. Nonetheless, even Paris’ more realistic goals faced scrutiny, as achieving net-zero emissions remains nearly impossible for an event of this scale.

Offsetting: A Solution or a Band-Aid?

To combat the carbon footprint, Paris 2024 used several carbon offset projects, including renewable energy, reforestation, and clean cooking initiatives across the globe. While these initiatives made a difference, the question of their sufficiency remains.

Projects that contributed to offsetting the emissions of Paris 2024 included:

1. Burn Stoves Project in Kenya by ECOA Climate Capital, which provided 180,829 metric tons.

2. The Eastern DRC Cookstove Project in Congo, delivering 189,900 metric tons.

3. The Chyulu Hills REDD+ Project in Kenya, which contributed 283,000 metric tons.

4. The SAKAL Solar Farm in Senegal, which added 125,454 metric tons as well.

Data According to Gold Standard and Verra Database

These projects played a vital role in reducing the Games' carbon impact contributing about, yet offsetting, by itself, is not a magic bullet. Critics continue to argue that while these measures are necessary, they fall short of fully compensating for the emissions generated. As Dan Magrath from Gold Standard said, "Pretty much everything we do relies on fossil fuels in some way." Even with offsetting in place, the environmental costs of large-scale events like the Olympics continue to raise questions about their sustainability.

Now that the 2024 Olympics have concluded, the financial and environmental legacy they leave behind is becoming clearer. Paris had an opportunity to set a new standard for sustainability in global events, and while it made progress, the reality remains that hosting an event of this magnitude carries unavoidable costs—both financial and environmental.

With future hosts watching, the Paris Olympics highlight the need for increased transparency, accountability, and more innovative solutions to the climate and economic challenges posed by such events. The question now is whether future hosts will build on Paris’ efforts or fall into the same traps that have historically marred the Olympic legacy.