The Olympic Ideal

Every four years, billions of television viewers and millions of in-person spectators cheer on 10,000 of the world’s greatest athletes during the Summer Olympic Games. With the global spotlight shining so brightly, Paris is using their 2024 host-city status to position themselves as a leader in sustainability. Paris declared the ambitious goal of halving the carbon footprint compared to previous Games, in part by mitigating the impact on transportation infrastructure caused by the surge in visitors. Los Angeles, the host of the 2028 Olympics and a city infamous for its transportation woes, faces a bevy of challenges in taking the sustainability baton. But given the state of the climate—the pace of global warming has accelerated in the last 15 years——Los Angeles must make an Olympic-level effort to reduce their carbon footprint.

For more than two weeks, Paris needs to accommodate an influx of 10,000 athletes, 20,000 journalists, 45,000 volunteers, and an expected 15 million spectators, all while minimizing carbon emissions. They’re doing this in a number of ways. Perhaps most crucially, each competition venue is accessible by public transportation. They’ve expanded two lines on their metro system, and services are increasing 15% over the usual summer tourist benchmarks. They’re also adding dozens of electric buses to their fleets and an additional 400 km of bike lanes. 

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For athletes, the story is also green. Toyota is delivering a fleet of more than 2,650 electrified vehicles, as well as 700 electric last-mile solutions, including 250 all-electric Accessible People Movers for people with accessibility needs. The fleet will be optimized to use around 40% fewer vehicles than in previous Games. 

Like Paris in 2024, L.A. wants Metro to be the primary mode of transportation for 2028 Olympic spectators. “We’re planning to make the 2028 Olympics transit-first Games,” said L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn. Yet, in addition to an increased demand on public transport, Los Angeles also faces a different set of challenges. 

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When L.A. hosted the 1984 Olympics, the Metro Rail system didn’t exist. It has since added more than 100 miles of track, an important achievement but not nearly enough mileage to criss-cross the city with ease. Former mayor Eric Garcetti attempted to tackle this issue head-on, proposing an ambitious “28 by ‘28” plan to speed up major transportation infrastructure initiatives in time for the Olympics. Due to reasons both financial and logistical, many of the 28 projects Garetti highlighted proved to be unrealistic. 

With the impracticalities of rapid rail expansion now viewed in a more sober light, emphasis has shifted to adding priority bus lanes, increasing the number of bike- and scooter-sharing stations (“first/last mile” projects), and installing more EV chargers across the region. But will it be enough? 

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As part of the effort to promote Metro use and reduce congestion, most private vehicle parking around competition venues will be prohibited. But to successfully carry out that plan, there needs to be a massive increase in bussing. A supplemental bus service during the Games will likely require an additional 2,700 buses—double the current fleet size—to accommodate the expected number of Olympic spectators. Cost estimates range from $700 million to $1 billion, money that is not currently allocated. There is precedent for the federal government to pick up the tab for additional buses, which they did for Los Angeles in ‘84, Atlanta in ‘96, and Salt Lake City in 2002, but the goal of a “car-free” Olympics and the fact of L.A.’s sprawling geography means the bill will be higher than ever. 

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Still, Los Angeles recently secured almost $900 million in federal funding for infrastructure projects in advance of 2028. In July, another $139 million in funding was announced to improve public transportation in addition to a previously announced $77 million earmarked for L.A. County to buy new zero-emission buses.

At least the battle is worth fighting. Paris is setting an excellent example for how to amplify the message of sustainability, even if some of their initiatives have been less than successful. (The plan to outfit the Olympic Village with an eco-friendly geothermal cooling system to bypass air-conditioning, for example, flat-out failed.) 

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Realistically, global transport to and from the Games has the biggest effect on the Olympic carbon footprint, and that’s unlikely to change as millions fly to Los Angeles in 2028. But Paris has proved that the margins matter, powering all Olympic venues with 100% renewable energy, cutting emissions attributed to the average meal in half, and smartly outfitting existing sites to account for 95% of all competition venues.

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Perhaps the greatest lesson for L.A. is that sustainability is a winning issue. And any successful changes to the regional transportation infrastructure—expanded rail lines, more zero-emission buses, first/last mile enhancements—are ones that will improve the lives of Angelenos long past 2028.

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