Uncovering the Veil of Hosting the Olympics: Environmental Impacts and Sustainability
Bretton Pratt ’27
Cathy Zhang ’26
As bright as the idea of hosting the Olympics sounds for a nation, the games cast a shadow over one of the world's most prominent issues: our environment. As our world continues to confront environmental degradation, the historic Olympic games are hastening this calamity.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) attempted to strengthen the relationship between the Olympics and nature in the past 16 editions from Barcelona 1992 to Tokyo 2020, but its portrayal of the games as environmentally harmonious is often misleading (Delaplace, 2024). The international Olympic pledge to “be green” is hollow, and the optimistic steps towards a better connection with sustainability lack clear action plans–a phenomenon known as “greenwashing.”
So how have these unfulfilled promises of a better act on the environment been evident throughout the Olympic games? Take any case study from the past, and the statistics will outline the environmental stress of hosting the coveted sporting event.
A decade ago, the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia contributed to some of the worst ecological aspects ever seen in the history of hosting the events. Prior to the games, the country expended countless resources to build entirely new infrastructure without considering plans for their long-term usage. Today, many of these structures are abandoned. During the games, the hosting country also illegally dumped waste into nearby water conservations. This pollution meddled with animal migration trails, destroyed parts of Sochi National Park, and had detrimental effects on the retrieval of clean water. Scientists estimated that Sochi 2014 emitted 360 kilotons of carbon dioxide, excluding another 160 more kilotons from the travel of spectators and athletes; altogether, the event likely produced over 1.1 billion pounds of carbon emissions.
The 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics offers another look at how human activity directly impacts the surrounding environment. An estimated 90-98% of the snow at the games was artificial. To produce this amount, great quantities of water and energy were required. Moreover, the chemical composition of the snow negatively impacted the surrounding ecosystems. Deforestation to accommodate skiing events further scarred these ecosystems and displaced many protected animal species.
While the carbon footprint of the Olympic games is heavy, hosting the Olympics allows us to reevaluate our environment. During the Paris Olympics this year, the clean-up of the Seine highlighted the toxic chemicals, agricultural runoff, sewage, and trash along the streets, problems that were often ignored in the midst of the city’s allure. The platform that comes with hosting the Olympics also gives the global community the opportunity to advance environmentally-friendly initiatives. For example, in Tokyo 2020, the host country of Japan took the first steps in following through with their proclamation of historic “greener” games. The Tokyo games earned a 150% carbon credit, a value that permits the games to emit a certain amount of carbon. The hosts constructed recycled plastic podiums, used recycled cardboard for athletes' beds, and designed the medals out of recycled electronics and tablets. Hence, the Olympics also acts as a platform to advocate for sustainability on a global scale.
There is no doubt that the Olympics still has much to work on to alleviate its impact on the environment. However, Susan Gardner, the director of the Ecosystems Division of the United Nations Environment Programme, reciprocates that “With the right planning, major sports events like the Olympics can serve as a shining example of how humanity can live in harmony with nature.”
References
Shankar, A. R. (2022, June 14). Olympics and its Environmental Impacts. The Starfish Canada.
https://thestarfish.ca/journal/2022/06/olympics-and-its-environmental-impacts
Aguilera, A. (2022, September 14). The Environmental Impact of Hosting the Olympic Games – Fordham Environmental Law
Review. Fordhamlawelr.org. https://fordhamlawelr.org/?p=1607
The toll of the Olympics on the environment | The Nation. (2024, July 30). The Nation.
https://www.thenation.com/article/environment/paris-olympic-games-environment-seine-triathlon/
United Nations Environment Programme. (n.d.). The Olympics are part of a push to “green” sports. Here’s why that’s
important.UNEP. https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/olympics-are-part-push-green-sports-hereswhy-thats-important
Delaplace, M. (2024, June 20). Can we really measure the ecological footprint of the Olympics? Polytechnique Insights.
