Less meat on menus and fewer new venues: How the Olympics are trying to go green

Paris event organisers pledge to halve greenhouse gas emissions from London and Rio levels.

- Attracta Mooney, Jana Tauschinski and Leila Abboud

No more diesel generators to power live broadcasts, less meat on the athletes' menus, and very little construction of new venues -the organisers of the Paris Olympic Games want to prove that the world's biggest sporting event can go green.

It will be a test not just of the French capital's eco-credentials, but also the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) ambition to host sustainable mega-events in an era of climate change. For the Games, which start on July 26, Paris has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions by half, compared with the levels at London in 2012 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

But academics and activists have called for an even bigger overhaul of the Olympics amid big questions about whether such large-scale events can ever be truly green, given the air travel and construction they require.

The pressure comes as the IOC faces issues such as a looming reduction in the number of countries that can host the Winter Games as temperatures rise.

IOC president Thomas Bach said climate change was "one of the greatest threats to the future of sport.

He said: "Climate change increasingly impacts where, when and how sport can be played. It is already affecting athlete performance and spectator experience."

Ms Marie Sallois, the IOC's director of corporate and sustainable development, said Paris would be the test case for the IOC's new sustainability strategy. "Paris is the first edition to demonstrate this ambition," she said.

Dr Walker Ross, a lecturer in sports management at The University of Edinburgh, said the Games could help spread the word about the importance of tackling climate change. "The Olympics are an incredibly visible manifestation of not just sports but global culture. It's beamed into homes all around the planet and we all pay attention," he said.