The Legacy and Sustainability plan for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games — 11 We decided to seize the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games as an opportunity to combat and adapt to climate change and address the urgent need to protect and regenerate biodiversity. This sincere, firm commitment has guided us and united everyone involved in the Games and the sporting movement since the bid phase. Sport brings together 3.5 million volunteers in France, evokes a range of unique emotions with 2.5 million events taking place every year and showcases its positive impact on society day in, day out across the 180,000 sports clubs nationwide that promote education, integration, gender equality and cohesion. However, the world of sport – like all other spheres of human activity and parts of society – needs to undergo an environmental transformation. Moreover, we firmly believe that sport can be harnessed to build a more sustainable society in which people demonstrate greater solidarity and are more mindful of nature and biodiversity. Sport enables us to take in the beauty of our surroundings and understand why we need to protect the environment; it offers an excellent pollution-free mode of transport; it uses the food we eat as a source of fuel; it makes us realise the importance of getting fresh air; and it is a form of entertainment that enables people to create memories around a common experience rather than limitless consumption. by ensuring we set our own benchmark, accelerating the roll-out of innovative solutions for spectacular and sustainable events, as well as working with everybody in the Paris 2024 family so that our methods and achievements leave a tangible and intangible legacy. This plan is the result of the work undertaken by everyone involved in Paris 2024 since the bid phase and highlights the distance we still have to travel together. We have everything we need to ensure Paris 2024 contributes to the environmental transformation of the world of sport © Rudy Waks The Legacy and Sustainability plan for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games — 11 Message from GEORGINA GRENON ENVIRONMENTAL EXCELLENCE DIRECTOR