Paris - After the Olympic Games

By Ross Douglas

The Olympics could not have come at a better time for France. The country was in a political deadlock and the mood was the worst I have seen in years. Macron was able to call a tactical pause and redirect the country’s energy away from anger to instead support their athletes during the games.

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I attended the Opening Ceremony with my family by bike, as did many other Parisians and visitors, making use of the city’s 400 kms of bike lanes. We toughed it out in the rain and did our best to explain to our young children why the man with the long hair and a beard has breasts.

My highlight was an invitation by Choose Paris Region (who assist foreign companies to set up business here) to the swimming where I watched Leon Marchond win the 4 x 100m medley, one of his 4 gold medals and a bronze. Instead of building a new swimming arena, the City built a temporary pool in an existing arena, one of the many clever solutions Olympic organisers deployed to lower the carbon footprint of the games.

Lionel Grotto, who heads up Choose Paris Region, explained to me how the region is strategically using the games to accelerate a few key businesses of which the “decarbonization economy” is one of them. This lines up well with the 10th anniversary of the Paris Climate Agreement next year.?

The agreement was signed by 196 countries in December 2015 to limit global warming to 1.5°C, by ensuring that greenhouse gas emissions peak before 2025 and decline 43% by 2030. So how are we doing a decade later? At the time of the signing, the world was projected to reach the 1.5°C threshold by March 2045. The World Meteorological Organization says that there is now an 80 percent likelihood that the annual average global temperature will temporarily exceed 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels for at least one of the next five years. The chance (80%) of at least one of the next five years exceeding 1.5°C has risen steadily since 2015, when such a chance was close to zero.?

But it's not all bad news. Companies, cities, and countries have committed to going carbon neutral by 2040 and they are now starting to deploy cleantech solutions at scale. According to Net Zero Tracker, the number of companies with net-zero targets has risen by more than 40% in just 16 months — from 702 in June 2022 to 1,003 in October 2023. The combined annual revenue of these companies covered by net-zero targets is a staggering $27 trillion; which is one of the reasons why Choose Paris Region is focusing on decarbonization as an economic opportunity for the region.?

Global Decarbonization Summit is coming to Paris!

Building off the momentum that the green economy is ushering in, Autonomy has partnered with the La Poste Groupe for the Global Decarbonization Summit, taking place at their HQ on March 18 & 19, 2025– just a 5-minute walk from the Global Decarbonization Expo at Porte de Versailles.?

We have chosen 6 verticals for the summit:

1. Decarbonizing Depots & Distribution

There are 29 million vans in the EU, half of which can be found in France (6.3 m), Italy (4.3 m) and Spain (3.9 m). In addition the EU has 6,5 million medium and heavy commercial trucks, of which Poland has the largest fleet by far (1.2 m).

Paris, as well as many other European cities, have banned diesel trucks and vans starting from 2030. Logistics companies, like La Poste Groupe have committed to going net zero by 2040. Vans and Trucks are generally renewed every six years, which means that starting in 2024, it makes no sense to replace diesel with diesel.?

Electric vans and trucks have the advantage of lower total cost of ownership for fleets. Claire Baritout, the head of sustainability at La Poste Groupe, which has Europe’s largest EV fleet, told me that the total cost of ownership of their electric fleet is lower than anticipated.?

Logistics companies, who tend to own many buildings for distribution, parking and offices will become massive buyers of rooftop and carport solar. And where there is solar and EVs there will be battery storage and charge stations. Commercial fleet managers in Europe all face the same challenge of upgrading their connection to the grid for DC chargers. Thus, they will increasingly use battery storage to store their own solar energy and ensure protection from grid weaknesses.??

2. Decarbonizing Public Transport

UITP surveyed 71 of the world's biggest public transport operators/authorities (PTOs and PTAs) of which 72 % have a carbon neutrality target. According to the UITP survey, even though clean buses have doubled in Europe over the past five years, “non-clean vehicles” still make up 77% of bus fleets globally.

There are 714,008 buses in operation across the EU, almost half of which can be found in three countries alone: Poland (126,547), Italy (100,199) and France (94,523). A fraction of these are electric. According to Mobility Portal, France has the third-largest fleet of electric buses in Europe, with only 2,360 units.?

But PTOs are moving fast to transition. TFL (Transport for London), who operate 8,500 buses, have converted over 1,000 to electric, the latest coming from BYD at a cost of ￡400 000 a piece.?

3. Decarbonizing Airports and Aviation

Decarbonizing aviation is complicated. Sustainable aviation fuels are expensive and hard to scale, while efficiency gains in new airplanes is offset by growing demand for flights. The result is that airports are under increasing pressure to decarbonize. They are turning to solar, energy efficiency and electric and autonomous vehicles to achieve this. Airports de Paris (ADP), which operates Paris’s international airports and 24 others around the world, recently financed 3 solar farms in France to supply its Paris airports with 10% of their power (45 GWh per year). VINCI Airports has launched a 14-hectare solar power plant at Lyon-Saint Exupéry airport, which will cover 5,800 parking spaces, with a capacity of 20 MWp, avoiding about 1,600 tons of CO2 annually.

In future all ground-handling vehicles and shuttles at airports will be electric and autonomous.

4. Decarbonizing the Grid?

Electricity consumption in the EU is expected to increase by around 60% by 2030. With 40% of the EUs distribution grids more than 40 years old, and cross-border transmission capacity to double by 2030 the European Commission predicts that €584 billion of investment is necessary to improve and expand Europe’s electricity grids.?

In an historic first, in the first half of 2024 the EU generated more electricity from solar and wind than from fossil fuels. The growth in renewables directly reduces greenhouse gas emissions and provides energy security for several industrial sectors.

5. Decarbonizing Rail

Railway companies around the world are installing solar and battery storage at scale. France’s national railway company (SNCF) has created a renewable energy division, which plans to deploy 1,000 MWp of solar capacity on SNCF property by 2030.

This will make SNCF one of Europe’s largest buyers of solar panels. The Indian Government has announced plans to install 20 GW of solar farms to make their rail network carbon neutral by 2030.

Railways typically own their rights-of-way, greatly simplifying the legalities of installing solar equipment. They also typically own their overhead electrical infrastructure, so they can directly use the electricity they generate.

Solar is not the only opportunity to decarbonize rail. So too is Autonomous technology. European rail has to subsidize its loss-making lines in less populated areas. In many cases, the transport needs of rural communities would be better served by autonomous shuttles and buses, which SNCF is investigating.

6. Decarbonizing Data Centers

On average, a ChatGPT query needs nearly 10 times as much electricity to process as a Google search. As the AI revolution becomes part of everyday business, Goldman Sachs Research estimates that data center power demand will grow 160% by 2030.

In February 2024, global digital infrastructure company, Equinix signed one of the largest Power Purchase Agreement deals in French history with energy company WPD. With the deal facilitated by Schneider Electric, it plans to build wind farms to further decarbonise the grid.

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Now back to the games. This week I am a guest of Toyota for the Paralympics opening ceremony and their sustainability conference. Like Choose Paris Region, they are using the games to springboard their carbon neutral initiatives and have committed to European CO2 neutrality by 2040 by decarbonizing their supply chain, factories and vehicles.?

I have the sense that the Paris Olympic games might be the turning point for the decarbonization of our economy that we have all been waiting for.?

Learn more about how to seize the opportunity of the financial and climate impact behind the decarbonization economy by pre-registering for the Global Decarbonization Summit on March 18 & 19, 2025 today.