The organizing committee for the Paris 2024 Olympics has been touting it as the “greenest-ever Games,” setting lofty targets to cut the carbon footprint in half compared to previous Games in addition to managing the event’s overall climate impact.

But when all the medals have been awarded and the excited roars of the crowd have quieted, it then becomes time to evaluate the true environmental impact of the Olympics, says Samir Trabelsi, Professor of Accounting and Governance at Brock’s Goodman School of Business.

However, the current lack of standardized, verifiable metrics makes it difficult to confirm whether the committee will have met its proposed commitments to environmental responsibility, he says.

“To combat greenwashing and ensure accountability, it is imperative to establish a robust framework of globally accepted sustainability standards,” he says. “These standards would provide clear, measurable criteria for evaluating the environmental performance of events, making it harder for misleading claims to go unchecked.”

Trabelsi, whose research focuses on promoting better governance and sustainability reporting in the corporate world, says it is currently difficult to confirm whether an organization, like the International Olympic Committee (IOC), is actually “walking the talk” regarding its sustainability efforts.

Without clear reporting standards there is a lack of transparency, he adds, which can allow for greenwashing — where organizations choose to highlight selective positive actions while downplaying or ignoring other any other negative impacts — to occur.

Olympic organizers have claimed, for example, to be committed to reducing emissions by reusing existing stadiums, utilizing renewable energy sources and promoting public transportation.

But the construction of any additional venues required, and the carbon footprint associated with spectator travel and merchandise production, all come at an environmental cost, Trabelsi says.

The claim that the Games have run on 100 per cent renewable energy also warrants scrutiny, he says, when considering France’s reliance on a nuclear-powered grid, which comes with its own set of pros and cons in terms of overall sustainability.

“They aren’t intentionally trying to mislead anyone by making these claims, but it’s very important, from an accounting perspective, to audit these green claims and check on whether they are embedded in the value proposition of the organization or not, because what gets measured, gets managed,” he says.

Trabelsi adds that the Paris Olympics also serves as a reminder that even with well-intentioned efforts, achieving true sustainability is a complex challenge.

“It is crucial to maintain a critical perspective and demand transparency from organizers,” he says. “By pushing for globally recognized standards and holding events accountable, we can move towards a future where sustainability claims are backed by verifiable data and genuine action.”

Doing so, he says, will create replicable systems that can be used as a model for sustainable innovation. This can lead not only to more eco-friendly sporting events, but also to a clearer path forward for any organization or city working toward a greener future for all.