PARIS (AP) — The Paris Olympics says it was far less polluting than recent Games but is not claiming to have been “carbon neutral” despite funding projects to compensate for its emissions.
Organizers said Wednesday that this summer's Olympics and Paralympics generated 1.59 million tons of climate-warming carbon dioxide, from the food athletes ate and construction of their rooms to flights that spectators took and energy that powered events.
According to a French government carbon-impact calculator, 1.59 million tons of CO2 is equivalent to driving a car 182,675 times around the globe or 898,305 return flights between Paris and New York.
Still, Paris Games organizers said they more than met their goal of slashing the Olympics' pollution footprint by half — announcing a 54.6% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to the London Olympics in 2012 and the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016.
Here's a look at how they did it and tips they offered to future hosts, starting with the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics and the next Summer Games in Los Angeles in 2028.
Paris organizers said thinking about carbon emissions far in advance of the Games and setting a reduction target were key. Those who led the task of planning and organizing the mega-event were given carbon budgets. Measures to slash emissions were built into plans from the start.
“To change things, we had to reinvent,” said Georgina Grenon, the Games' director of environmental excellence.
Just as athletes seek ways to shave milliseconds off their times, Paris organizers sought not just big carbon savings — by building just one competition venue specifically for the Games — but smaller ones, too.
The Olympic cauldron used electricity and LED spotlights to give the impression of being ablaze. That made it 300 times less polluting than if it had burned gas, Grenon said. Even Olympic medals included recycled materials, with each embedded with a reused chunk of the Eiffel Tower.
Electricity powered 98.4% of the Games' energy needs and organizers said a purchasing agreement they signed with power supplier EDF ensured it was all solar- or wind-generated.
Plant-based hot dogs and other vegetarian offerings less carbon-intensive than meat dishes accounted for 40% of the food that spectators ate, and the carbon footprint of meals served to Games workers and volunteers was half that of the typical French meal, organizers said.
In selling 12.1 million tickets, Paris set attendance records. But transporting spectators to the French capital and to events came at an unexpectedly large carbon cost. Transport had been expected to account for about one-third of Paris' carbon footprint, but organizers said it ended up accounting for 53%.
“We were a bit victims of our success, because we sold many more tickets than initially estimated,” Grenon said.
Just over 66% of spectators came from France. More than 21% came from elsewhere in Europe and another 12% came from further afield, led by ticket-holders from the United States, Brazil and Canada. For spectators who took long-haul flights, the carbon impact was about 1,000 times greater than transporting those from the Paris region, organizers said.
Organizers said they are spending just over 12 million euros ($12.6 million) on projects in Africa, Asia, Central America and France that aim to compensate for the Games' 1.59 million tons of carbon emissions.
The money is funding tens of thousands of less-polluting cooking stoves and access to water in Nigeria, Congo, Kenya and Rwanda, solar power in Senegal and Vietnam and forestation in Guatemala, Kenya, Senegal and France, organizers said.
But Grenon said that while the projects aim to compensate for emissions, Paris won't label its Games “carbon neutral” because that can be misleading.
“It can give the impression that there is no impact when there is an impact," she added. “There was an impact but we treated it and, most of all, we reduced it.”
AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
FILE - France and Argentina compete in the blind football gold medal match at the 2024 Paralympics, Sept. 7, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, File)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's president defended his martial law decree as an act of governance and denied rebellion charges Thursday, rejecting the opposition-led impeachment attempts against him and investigations into last week's move.
Yoon Suk Yeol's televised statement came hours before the main liberal opposition Democratic Party submits a new impeachment motion against Yoon. The opposition party plans to put the motion on a floor vote this Saturday.
Its earlier attempt to impeach Yoon fell through last Saturday, with ruling party lawmakers boycotting a vote at the National Assembly.
Yoon’s Dec. 3 martial law declaration, the first of its kind in more than 40 years in South Korea, has generated political chaos and large protests calling for his ouster. The decree brought hundreds of armed troops attempting to encircle parliament and raiding the election commission, though no major violence or injuries occurred, and he was forced to lift it about six hours later.
“I will fight to the end, to prevent the forces and criminal groups that have been responsible for paralyzing the country’s government and disrupting the nation’s constitutional order from threatening the future of the Republic of Korea,” Yoon said.
Yoon, a conservative, said his martial law introduction was meant to issue a warning to the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, which he said has been paralyzing state affairs and destroying the country's constitutional order. He said the deployment of less than 300 soldiers to the National Assembly was designed to maintain order, not dissolving or paralyzing it.
Yoon called the Democratic Party “a monster" and “anti-state forces,” which he said repeatedly tried to use its legislative muscle to impeach top officials, undermine government budget bills and sympathize with North Korea.
“The opposition is now doing a knife dance of chaos, claiming that the declaration of martial law constitutes to an act of rebellion. But was it really?" Yoon said.
Yoon said his martial law decree was an act of governance that cannot be the subject of investigations and doesn’t amount to rebellion.
It's unclear how Yoon's statement would affect his fate. Earlier Thursday, the leader of his own conservative party, Han Dong-hun, said Yoon was making it clear he had no willingness to step down voluntarily and called for party members to vote in favor of his impeachment at the upcoming National Assembly vote.
Opposition parties and many experts say the martial law decree was unconstitutional. They say a president is by law allowed to declare martial law only during wartime or similar emergency situations, but South Korea wasn’t in such a predicament. They argue that deploying troops to seal the National Assembly to suspend its political activities amounted to rebellion because the constitution doesn’t allow a president to use the military to suspend parliament in any situation.
Yoon's statement was seen as an about-face from his previous position. Last Saturday, Yoon apologized over the martial law decree, saying that he won’t avoid legal or political responsibility for it. He said he would leave it to his party to chart a course through the country’s political turmoil, “including matters related to my term in office.”
On Wednesday, Yoon's office resisted a police attempt to search the compound.
The main focus of the investigation is finding whether Yoon and other top military and government officials involved in imposing martial law committed rebellion. A conviction for rebellion carries a maximum penalty of death.
Earlier this week, Yoon's former defense minister was arrested on allegations of playing a key role in a rebellion and committing abuse of power. He became the first person formally arrested over the martial law decree.
Kim Yong Hyun, one of Yoon’s close associates, has been accused of recommending martial law to Yoon and sending troops to the National Assembly to block lawmakers from voting on it. Enough lawmakers eventually managed to enter a parliament chamber and they unanimously rejected Yoon’s decree, forcing the Cabinet to lift it before daybreak on Dec. 4.
A participant wearing a mask of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol performs during a rally to demand his impeachment outside the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. The signs read "Arrest the rebellion leader Yoon Suk Yeol." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Participants stage a rally to demand South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment, outside the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahnn Young-joon)
People watch a TV screen showing the live broadcast of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's announcement at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (AP Photo//Lee Jin-man)
People watch a TV screen showing the live broadcast of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's announcement at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Participants stage a rally to demand South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment, outside the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahnn Young-joon)
A TV screen shows South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's televised briefing at a bus terminal in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A participant holds up a banner with writing reading "Overthrow the rebellion criminal Yoon Suk Yeol", during a rally to demand South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment, outside the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A participant holds a banner with writing reading "Arrest the rebellion leader Yoon Suk Yeol", during a rally to demand South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment outside the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
