As we enter the second half of 2024, how is everyone doing? July is the month of the Olympic Games, a grand event for humanity, with the 2024 Olympics hosted by France taking place from July 26 to August 11, 2024.

The interesting aspect of the 2024 Olympics is not only that it marks a full-scale Olympic event after the COVID-19 pandemic but also that it introduces a new dimension to organizing global sports events with a focus on environmental and social considerations under the sustainable concept. I believe this is a commendable idea that sparks thoughts on organizing various events, from community levels to global scales, incorporating this concept.

Particularly regarding architecture and landscape architecture, which embrace sustainable practices that are friendly to society and the environment (Environment, Social, Governance Sustainable or ESG).

Starting with Architecture

Typically, in organizing global sports events, organizers choose locations and build new athlete accommodations and sports venues. For instance, when Thailand hosted the Asian Games in 1998, it had to invest in constructing both athlete housing and new sports facilities at Thammasat University, Rangsit, many of which later became student dormitories.

Similarly, for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, an investment of $22 billion was made to build new stadiums and various infrastructures. Each construction generates noise pollution, waste, and environmental impacts from the construction process, which is one of the most polluting industries compared to others.

However, for the 2024 Olympics, the host country, France, has chosen to utilize existing venues, accounting for 95% of the total event area. This means that there will be no need for new buildings, significantly reducing pollution and environmental impact from construction processes, thus conserving resources in building sports facilities.

Only 5% of the venues will be newly constructed, designed to be environmentally friendly by using eco-friendly materials, such as an 8-story building made from green cement, which incorporates natural or recycled materials into the concrete to help mitigate environmental issues.

Utilizing existing venues not only reduces the use of construction materials and pollution but also eliminates the need for new infrastructure investments, allowing the use of existing utilities and public transportation systems to accommodate the influx of athletes and tourists during the competition.

Additionally, the city has added 800 miles of new bike lanes and planted 300,000 new trees, which will remain long after the 2024 Olympics conclude.

On Energy: The 2024 Olympics Will Use 100% Green Energy

It is undeniable that organizing a large-scale event like the Olympic Games requires a massive amount of energy to operate 24 hours a day throughout the competition period. For the 2024 Olympics, the host country, France, has chosen to use 100% green energy during the event, utilizing wind and solar energy, such as offshore wind turbines in Normandy and solar panels on the rooftops of venues in Paris.

In addition to architecture and energy, the organizers have implemented other measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, such as sourcing food ingredients from local farms for the 13 million meals served during the competition, thereby reducing transportation emissions from outside the city. It is estimated that greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced by 50% during the event. Meanwhile, the organizers plan to purchase carbon credits (the amount of greenhouse gases reduced from clean development mechanism projects, where developed countries facing challenges in reducing emissions buy carbon quotas from developing countries) in various carbon capture and storage projects to ensure that the Paris 2024 Olympics achieves net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.

This concept can be adapted for organizing sports events as well as community-level, national, and international activities in Thailand, where the government aims to make Thailand a hub for international events, including sports and music, to boost tourism revenue.

For example, Thailand has proposed to host Formula One and Formula E races. We can adopt the concepts of socially and environmentally friendly event organization, from choosing convenient locations to using existing buildings for athlete accommodations, incorporating alternative energy into the events, and paying attention to the transportation details of both athletes and spectators using public transport to reduce car emissions.

I believe that not only can we apply the concepts from the 2024 Paris Olympics to large-scale events in the country, but we can also use these ideas to renovate old buildings in Thailand that are over 10 years old into energy-efficient, environmentally friendly structures by incorporating alternative energy and using eco-friendly materials, which will benefit the overall environment and reduce energy consumption in various buildings in Thailand, driving the country towards its goal of carbon neutrality by 2050 and achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2065, following our commitment at COP26.

See you again in August.

By Mr. Prabhan Sak Raksaiwan

Managing Director

LWIS Wisdom and Solutions Co., Ltd.