Olympic sponsors must lead in decarbonization, not use the Games for greenwashing 

I have lost count of the ways my rowing training sessions have had to change to lessen the impacts of climate change, from the blistering summer heat to the surreal wind storms that blow up out of nowhere. As an Olympic athlete who spends most of the time on the water, my training has been directly impacted by the climate crisis.

In the summer, rowers like me brace ourselves for warming temperatures that test the capacity of our bodies’ limits. While we prepare the best we can for heat and humidity, there is only so much we can do as the world heats up. Sadly, this is increasingly the case in fall and spring, too. Climate change is increasing toxic algae in the water where we row. Wildfires pollute our air.

As individuals, our power to reduce the emissions driving climate-change is limited, compared to massive corporations like those sponsoring the 2024 Paris Olympics Games. Responsibility for leading the systemic change needed to prevent more unnatural disasters must sit primarily with the companies that create the goods and services whose carbon pollution is damaging our climate. Companies like Toyota, the first ever “mobility partner” for the Olympic Games, have the power and financial resources to be climate leaders, to alter our trajectory from climate crisis to climate comeback.

The IOC and the Paris organizing committee can rightly claim these to be the “greenest” Games yet. This is largely due to the fact that very few new venues were built thanks to Paris having hosted two prior Olympics. But the Olympics' climate action bar is set very, very low. Sadly, the Paris Games fall well short of being as green as they could be. Its partnership with Toyota is a big reason why.

Through their partnership, Toyota and Paris 2024 organizers are promoting a fleet of more than 2,650 Toyota vehicles “to cater to athletes and accredited participants, which include electric, hybrid and hydrogen-powered vehicles.”

Toyota neglects to mention that these hybrid and hydrogen-powered vehicles still produce significant emissions. If Paris 2024 organizers and the IOC are “targeting a 50 per cent reduction in carbon emissions,” why not start with transportation that is fully electric and zero emissions?

Toyota likes to champion its green credentials in ads. The company’s “Electrified” campaign implies that Toyota’s gasoline-hybrid vehicles are 100 per cent electric vehicles, while they are still polluting cars. With Toyota’s products, combustion-powered cars and trucks being among the greatest contributors to our climate crisis, the greenwashing is breathtaking.

While societies and companies around the world are innovating to reduce their carbon footprints, energy usage and waste, companies like Toyota talk the green talk while doing very little to walk the green walk. It wasn’t always this way.

In 1997, Toyota launched its first gasoline-electric (aka hybrid) Prius. Toyota promoted itself as a leader in the automotive industry’s fight to reduce its climate impacts. Prius was a step forward, but since then, the company has largely hit the brakes on decarbonization. Fewer than one per cent of Toyota’s car sales are Electric Vehicles (EVs).

Instead of taking the next step from leading on gasoline-electric cars to leading on 100 per cent electric vehicles, the company focused on hybrids, and 100 per cent fossil fuel/internal combustion engine cars.

It placed a large bet on hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, which are three times as carbon-intensive as EVs and, from a market share perspective, have lost big time to EVs. In response, Toyota unleashed a massive global lobbying effort against policies that advance EVs. Continuing to push 100 per cent gas-powered cars and to fight the scaling of the EV market is not the work of a green leader, it is the work of a greenwasher.

With its scale, Toyota could and should lead and innovate on EVs, rather than fight against them. It’s not only the right thing to do. It’s good business. In Canada, six years ago, EV’s represented just one percent of annual sales. Now, they make up 10 per cent of new vehicle sales, while gas-powered vehicle sales are declining.

Reports from Japan suggest that the Toyota-IOC partnership agreement will end at the close of the Paris Games. This provides an opportunity for the IOC to find a new mobility partner in time for the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games and LA 2028 that is truly committed to EVs – and to decarbonizing the automotive sector.

The fact that the Paris 2024 Games has Toyota as one of its main partners is a sunk greenwashing cost. Olympic sponsors and partners such as Toyota should be held accountable for their willingness to sportswash on such a big stage. To paraphrase the IOC’s motto, when it comes to its next mobility partner, the IOC must be Faster, Higher, Stronger and Greener.

Jennifer Casson is a Canadian rowing Olympian. In 2023, Casson and partner Jill Moffat won the Henley doubles championship and finished the year ranked fourth in the world, qualifying for the Paris Olympics.