Paris 2024 Olympic Games, gold medal for clean air with Kunak

The environmental commitment of Paris 2024 has been infected by the spirit of fair and respectful play that prevails in a world-class sporting event such as the modern Olympic Games.

The aim was to ensure a healthy environment where constant air quality monitoring would allow athletes and spectators alike to enjoy clean air in a city like Paris, where air quality is the third leading cause of death (according to a recent study by the association Respire). Nevertheless, measured and constantly monitored by Kunak, it has been possible to safeguard health and, at the same time, for the whole world to admire the best achievements and prowess of each Olympic discipline.

Environmental Commitment and Air Quality Monitoring

Kunak air quality sensors, strategically deployed at the Olympic venues in the heart of Paris, with the support of Acoem and World Athletics (the world governing authority for athletics), have provided the precision and reliability of their technology to measure and analyse in real time the levels of the most harmful pollutants in the air, such as particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and ozone, among others.

In this way, the International Olympic Committee could monitor the air conditions during the sporting event, ensuring that there were safe levels of clean air for the events to take place. The collected data has been essential to make effective decisions on changes to the timing and location of certain events such as the marathon, to ensure a safe and healthy sporting environment.

Allowing informed and quick organisational decisions has made Kunak an essential ally in environmental monitoring at different sporting events.

This initiative, together with other ecological actions such as the installation of air purifiers in the Olympic Village, restoring water quality in the Seine River, increasing pedestrian and bicycle routes through the city, the low-emission zone and the creation of urban forests, among others, have helped Paris move forward in its transformation to become one of the greenest cities in Europe.

The initiatives carried out have reduced carbon emissions, making a positive contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions at the Olympic Games to 1.58 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent, halving those produced at London 2012 and Rio 2016. These measures, together with the promotion of the use of renewable energies, have made these Olympic Games the most sustainable in Olympic history and the most inspiring for a new era in sport.

Technological Support and Real-Time Monitoring

This was not the first time Kunak Technologies has participated in the Olympic Games. Thanks to World Athletics, Kunak deployed, during the Tokyo 2022 Olympic Games, the first air quality analysis devices to ensure that the competitions were held under ideal and equal atmospheric conditions.

The Kunak air quality monitoring stations installed in Paris remain active throughout the Paralympic Games, ensuring that all athletes can perform at their best in a suitable environment. This new Olympic event underlines the commitment of Paris and the International Organising Committee of the Olympic Games to ensure the best physical conditions and sporting performance.

Offering the best environmental conditions, supported by Spanish air quality control technology, in this new Olympic event means for Kunak to have achieved a real gold medal, the clean air that we all deserve to breathe.