'Trust science', Paris mayor tells air conditioning fans ahead of Olympics
Tokyo 2020 Olympics - The Tokyo 2020 Olympics Closing Ceremony - Olympic Stadium, Tokyo, Japan - August 8, 2021. The Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, waves the Olympic flag during the closing ceremony REUTERS/Carlos Barria
PARIS: With competing nations split over whether to enter into the spirit of the "Green Games" or throw money at success whatever the environmental cost, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo told those nations planning on installing air conditioning at the athletes' village to "trust the science" instead.
Temperatures are expected to soar again in the European summer, after setting records in 2023, but there will be no air conditioning in the athletes' rooms at Paris 2024, which has pledged to host the "greenest ever" Games.
Instead, buildings in the athletes' village have been designed with a cooling system drawing water from underground and facades orientated so they get little direct sun.
"This village was designed to avoid the need for air conditioning, even in very, very high temperatures, in order to maintain comfortable temperatures," Hidalgo told Reuters on Wednesday (Mar 13).
With climate scientists warning that global warming has produced more extreme weather patterns in much of the world, organisers of Paris 2024 have said they want the event’s carbon footprint to be half that of the Rio 2016 and London 2012 Summer Games.
