The Tour: Beauty and beast
‘Macho and polluting’ is how Lyon mayor Grégory Doucet chose to describe the Tour when stages 14 and 15 passed through the city in 2020. And there is some truth behind the statement.
The Tour de France can be likened to a travelling circus, and one that requires extensive resources. From the helicopters and motorbikes to the team cars and the publicity caravan to the kit and the bikes to the flights and the hotels – not to mention the sheer number of spectators lining the route or watching on TV – the resources that go into the Tour will make your head spin. So just what is the extent of this great race’s environmental footprint?
Emissions reductions
According to the most recent carbon audit of the Tour de France carried out in 2021, emits 216,388 tons of carbon dioxide (CO) equivalents – because every emission is a mix of carbon, methane and nitrogen dioxide, it is all scooped up into one calculation. To put that in perspective, a 4,800km flight emits approximately one ton of CO per passenger. Do that 216,388
