The IOC has adopted a holistic approach to sustainability, working across its three spheres of responsibility.

Following a materiality assessment and extensive consultations with stakeholders, the IOC Sustainability Strategy, approved in 2016 and published in 2017, focused on five focus areas:

• Infrastructure and natural sites
• Sourcing and resource management
• Mobility
• Workforce
• Climate

Since then, these focus areas have evolved to better address the three key interlinked issues that humanity currently faces:

• Climate change
• Biodiversity loss
• Waste and pollution

Workforce considerations are now integrated within other IOC strategies, while mobility is addressed transversally through the three focus areas.

CLIMATE

The world of sport is increasingly affected by climate change: from heat and extreme weather events in the summer to unreliable snow and temperatures in the winter. At the same time, sport contributes to global emissions. The IOC recognises it has a responsibility and an opportunity to contribute to the global efforts to address climate change. The organisation is working to reduce its footprint and use its convening power to make the world of sport more sustainable.

IOC CLIMATE COMMITMENT

Committed to leading by example, the IOC reduced its direct and indirect carbon emissions by more than 30 per cent between 2021 and 2024, and has committed to reducing emissions by 50 per cent by 2030 in line with the Paris Agreement on climate change. As testament to the IOC’s commitment to climate action, Olympic House, the headquarters of the IOC, is one of the most sustainable office buildings in the world, and has been awarded the LEED platinum certification by the US Green Building Council (USGBC) both in construction and in operations.

OLYMPIC FOREST

In addition to reducing emissions, the IOC is creating the Olympic Forest, part of the Great Green Wall Initiative to restore degraded landscapes across Africa’s Sahel region, ahead of the Youth Olympic Games Dakar 2026. It involves planting around 440,000 native trees across villages in Mali and Senegal, aiming to create social, economic and environmental benefits for local communities that are heavily impacted by climate change.

REDUCING OLYMPIC GAMES EMISSIONS

Following Olympic Agenda recommendations, the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024 achieved an unprecedented 54.6 per cent reduction in carbon emissions compared to the average of the Olympic Games London 2012 and the Olympic Games Rio 2016, becoming the first Olympic Games aligned with the Paris Agreement on climate change.

FUTURE HOSTS

The IOC elected three Olympic hosts during 2021–2024 – the French Alps for the Olympic Winter Games 2030, Brisbane for the Olympic Games 2032, and Salt Lake City–Utah for the Olympic Games 2034. Their contracts include a requirement for the OCOGs to minimise direct and indirect Games-related carbon emissions, to aim at removing more carbon from the atmosphere than what each Games project emits, and to use their influence to encourage stakeholders to take climate action.

SPORTS FOR CLIMATE ACTION FRAMEWORK

At the same time, the IOC has worked with Olympic Movement stakeholders to help make sport more sustainable. A growing number of IFs and NOCs have joined the Sports for Climate Action Framework, which aims to create a climate action plan for global sport. As of December 2024, 38 IFs and 71 NOCs had joined the framework, up from 21 IFs and eight NOCs in July Olympic Movement stakeholders now make up 36 per cent of the 301 global signatories.

BIODIVERSITY

The practice of sport, as well as athletes’ health and well- being, are highly dependent on the availability of natural resources such as clean air and water, as well as healthy ecosystems such as mountains, forests, lakes, rivers and oceans. Healthy ecosystems not only absorb atmospheric carbon – they also shield nature and aid communities against climate-related impacts such as droughts, heatwaves and floods. Conserving global biodiversity is therefore a key aspect of global efforts to address climate change and preserve human and planetary health. Sport- related activities may have adverse impacts on biodiversity – for example, by disturbing fragile ecosystems, modifying local water cycles, or contributing to deforestation in the supply chain.

BIODIVERSITY AND THE GAMES

To minimise such impacts, the IOC introduced a clause to the Olympic Host Contract, ensuring that no permanent Olympic construction occurs in statutory nature areas, cultural protected areas and UNESCO World Heritage Sites. In addition, a new requirement to conduct a biodiversity mapping and implementation plan across all Games venues has been added to the Operational Requirements, which must be respected by future OCOGs.

SPORTS FOR NATURE FRAMEWORK

The IOC also co-created the Sports for Nature Framework, which brings together sports organisations in a commitment to protect nature. At the end of December 2024, there were 92 signatories to the framework. The number of participating Olympic Movement organisations is 25 IFs and 15 NOCs.

CIRCULARITY

There is legitimate concern regarding the sourcing and life cycle of goods, materials and services across the sports event sector in terms of resource depletion and negative end-of life impacts on the environment. At the same time, sports events and other sports activities provide ideal opportunities to increase circularity and innovative design practices.

PROGRESS IN 2021–2024

The IOC’s work on this topic during 2021–2024 has focused on:

• Strengthening the implementation of the IOC’s sustainable sourcing approach.
• Supporting OCOGs and their partners in developing innovative solutions in circularity – such as working with Paris 2024 to enable them to achieve a 90 per cent circularity rate at the event, with 98 per cent of Games assets allocated a second life.
• Working with Worldwide Olympic Partner Deloitte and the Olympic Movement on circular economy for all procurement associated with the Olympic Games and Youth Olympic Games.
• Working with the Carbon Fibre Circular Alliance on the recycling, remanufacturing, repurposing and extension of life of carbon fibre across the Olympic Movement.

For more information, see the Sustainability Progress Report 2021–2024.