Paris 2024 Olympic bid launches environmental committee

The Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games Bid Committee has launched an Environmental Excellence Committee to deliver its commitments on sustainable development and green initiatives.

The Environmental Excellence Committee is formed of 24 highly qualified personnel including scientists, NGO representatives, athletes and entrepreneurs, and its chairman is the President of World Wildlife Fund (WWF) France, Isabelle Autissier.

The committee had its first meeting on the 14 June and will meet four times a year until the end of the campaign for the bid in September 2017.

Paris 2024 bid is aiming at obtaining the ISO 20121 sustainability certificate by the end of 2016 – a best-practice standard developed for major events, such as London 2012 or UEFA Euro 2016 which hold the certification.

If the committee is successful in securing the certification, it will be the first time that an Olympic bid has held the certificate, emphasising Paris 2024’s high commitment to environmental issues in all phases of the project.

Funds for sustainable development projects and green initiatives will be provided notably by Groupe Caisse des Depots, official Partner of Paris 2024, which also is involved in smart city planning.

WWF France will also be an important partner of Paris 2024 to allow the implementation of best practice in sustainability and eventually deliver Games that will changes behaviours towards environmental issues.

Paris 2024 Co-Chairman and member of the IOC Sustainability and Legacy Committee, Tony Estanguet, said: “We are delighted to launch the Paris 2024 Environmental Excellence Committee which further underlines the bid’s commitment to sustainability and environmental best practice. As our bid continues to develop, we are looking forward to receiving input and recommendations from the committee which is made up of highly qualified individuals in this field.”

Estanguet added: “Sustainable development has been at the heart of our campaign since the very beginning. A major clean-up of the River Seine and plans for the proposed Olympic and Media Villages to be converted into a new Eco City with 5,000 homes for local people after the Games are fine examples of our pioneering vision and our ambition to deliver sustainable legacy for all Parisians.”

Isabelle Autissier, chair of the committee said: “The newly formed Paris 2024 Environmental Excellence Committee has an important role to play in shaping the bid vision to ensure best practices in sustainable development are met.”

Autissier added: “We are delighted to get to work and our ambition to become the first Olympic bid in history to hold the ISO 20121 certificate highlights our commitment to deliver green and sustainable Games... and to make the Paris 2024 Games a sustainable model and a blueprint for future major sporting events.”