Tour de France’s quest for its green jersey

Gearing up for an exciting Tour de France

Who do you have winning? Jonas Vingegaard back in the peloton and ready to fight for his third consecutive Tour de France, or Tadej Pogačar also fighting for a third victory on the back of a dominating Giro?

This year’s Grand Départ will take place in Florence, marking the start of three weeks of intense racing across all types of landscapes. Due to the Olympics, the Tour de France finish will take place in Nice rather than Paris for the first time in its history.

It’s going to be a fascinating show as 176 riders, split across 22 teams, will compete over 3498 kilometres. It’s also going to be an opportunity for the Tour de France to showcase the environmental sustainability initiatives it has put in place.

The Tour de France measured its carbon footprint for the first time in 2013 and has since been proactively working to reduce the Grande Boucle's environmental impact. For the 2021 edition, they estimated that 216,388 tCO2e were released across the race’s operations and supply chain.

The Tour de France is reducing its environmental impact

The Tour de France is not just measuring its emissions. Its environmental approach is to avoid emissions wherever possible, reduce them and offset the unavoidable ones.

To protect the natural environment, the organisers assess the impact of the race on protected ecological zones and put in place measures such as no-fly zones, halts on sound broadcasting, and multiple waste collection zones throughout the stages for the riders’ litter.

The breathtaking broadcasting views rely on helicopters, and these have been required to run on Sustainable Aviation Fuel for at least a third of the stages.

To minimize the emissions of the cars following the tour, they have partnered with Škoda to have hybrid and electric vehicles around the peloton.

There is a lot of material to move around the 21 stages, which is also why they have partnered with XPO Logistics to have a fleet of trucks running on biofuels.

For the unavoidable emissions or the ones it cannot yet reduce, the organisers are supporting afforestation and reforestation projects in the forests through which the race goes.

Regarding indirect emissions such as fan travel, the organisers are promoting soft mobility with subsidised train ticket prices, car-sharing platforms, and bicycle parks for the public.

Using the Tour de France’s platform to drive climate action

Beyond reducing the race's greenhouse gas emissions, the Tour de France is symbolic of low-carbon mobility and can encourage the uptake of cycling in people’s lives.

According to the Tour, 60% of travels in France are distances under 5km, with only 4% of these done by bicycle. That’s a lot of potential for lower-carbon transportation!

Additionally, the broadcast of the race showcases beautiful landscapes, from the Alps to the Pyrenees. By educating viewers on the environment on which the tour relies, organisers can create waves of climate action by inspiring them to protect it.

Jasper Philipsen might be the best sprinter in the world, but we can all be worthy of a green jersey when choosing to cycle instead of taking the car.

As a race and a symbol, the Tour de France can lead the way for other cycling races to implement emission reduction initiatives and for individuals to increasingly rely on cycling to get around.