- Average temperatures in Paris during 2024 Olympics Games have increased by 3.1°C since 1924.
- 20% of Olympic nations face extinction from sea level rise and extreme weather by 2030
- TeamGB gold medalist Etienne Stott: “The Paris Agreement was signed nine years ago but we’re in danger of breaching the goal of limiting global heating to 1.5C.
As the eyes of the world turn to Paris for the Olympics, Christian Aid has warned that the Paris Agreement target of limiting temperature rise to 1.5C is under threat unless world leaders rapidly increase their efforts to tackle the climate crisis.
Last month the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service confirmed that the critical 1.5C global heating threshold agreed in the Paris Agreement has been breached for 12 months in a row.
Whilst the Paris Agreement goal to keep global temperature rise to a maximum of 1.5C above pre-industrial averages refers to the long-term, the exceeding of this target over the last 12 months indicates that this target will be missed soon unless urgent action is taken.
The Paris Agreement was signed by all nations in 2015. But already this year we’ve seen people dying from heatwaves in India and Saudi Arabia, temperature records broken in Canada, wildfires in Southern Europe, floods in the UAE and drought in China and East Africa. Since COP28 was held in December last year extreme weather events have cost the world more than $41 billion in damages.
Last year Christian Aid published a report showing the impact of climate change on the rugby playing nations of the Pacific such as Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, where sea level rise is threatening the future of low-lying islands.
At the Sport Positive Summit in October 2022, Julie Duffus, senior manager of Sustainability at the International Olympic Committee, told the audience: “I work with 206 countries around the world. And so many of them now are witnessing these impacts…by the time we get to 2030, we’re looking at losing about 20% of our Olympic nations. Literally, gone.”
Climate change is taking its toll on sport. The Tokyo Olympics in 2021 became known as the "hottest in history," with temperatures exceeding 34°C and humidity reaching nearly 70%, leading to severe health risks for competitors. A report published last month showed that average temperatures in Paris during the period the 2024 Olympics Games will be held (July 26 - August 11) have increased by 3.1°C since 1924.
Etienne Stott, canoe slalom gold medalist for TeamGB in London 2012, said: “The Olympics is one of the few times the whole world comes together. It’s a useful reminder that we all share this precious, common home. But shamefully we are doing a terrible job at looking after it and millions of the most vulnerable people in the world are having to live with the consequences.
“The Paris Agreement was signed nine years ago but we’re in danger of breaching the goal of limiting global heating to 1.5C. We can see around the world the suffering caused by even the current level of climate change. Until we get emissions under control and increase support for those on the front lines, the crisis will only get worse.”
Christian Aid’s Head of Global Advocacy and Policy, Graham Gordon, said: “The last time representatives from every nation descended on Paris was the UN climate summit in 2015 where the Paris Agreement was signed. It’s terrible that just nine years later that agreement is under serious threat with both carbon emissions and global temperatures continuing to rise.
“This is an issue of life and death, people are dying, they are losing their homes and their livelihoods. It needs to be a wake-up call for the rich, polluting nations to make climate action a national priority and urgently move away from fossil fuels which are driving this climate catastrophe.”
On Friday Christian Aid is launching a new Olympic themed video campaign highlighting the impacts of climate change. It can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcAInJnz2sA
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