Paris Olympics 2024: Games village goes vegan as they cut down meat, and cheese to reduce the carbon footprint

At the Paris Olympics 2024, athletes, staff, and media personnel will be served an extensive Games Village menu with a limited spread of meat, cheese, and dairy products. This is happening to reduce animal protein intake and carbon footprint. One of the key factors why Paris was awarded the hosting was environmental concerns. Paris has an ambitious plan for curbing its carbon footprint. They are estimating a carbon footprint of 1.58 million metric tons of CO2, less than the Covid-hit Tokyo Olympics (1.96 million metric tons of CO2) and London 2012 which had a CO2 emission of 3.4 million metric tons.

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How is France trying to reduce the carbon footprint?

Building new venues increases emissions. The organizers convinced four contingents (the Netherlands, Britain, Belgium, and Switzerland) to travel via train to Paris and are also requesting visitors to do the same. There is a good public transport system and bicycles are also available for local travel. 

According to estimates, the Olympic Games Village will prepare 13 million meals and snacks. The International Olympic Committee says 60 percent of them will be plant-based options. The target is 1 kilogram of CO2 per meal – half of the norm at previous Olympic Games. It aims to meet the target by including more fruits and vegetables while using seasonal and local produce (France intends to source 80 percent of ingredients from within the country to stop excessive transport of food).

Veganism isn’t the predominant food choice in France. The global average meat consumption is 28.1 kg per capita annually. In France, that number rises up to 83.5 kg. Until 2022, the country had only one Michelin-star restaurant that was vegan. It was shut down within a year. Paris Olympics trying to tackle this issue by finalizing a menu based on four geographical regions (France, Asia, African-Caribbean, World), with 40 different meals on offer every day.

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At La Concorde, where the 3×3 Basketball, Breaking, BMX Freestyle, and Skateboarding events are set to take place, all food will be veg. “We wanted to focus on vegetarian options,” said Philipp Würz, responsible for food & beverages at Paris 2024. “60 percent of the recipes for the general public will be vegetarian. We are convinced that with these Games, we have a unique opportunity to do things differently and show that another model is possible.”