The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has set out to help the world’s 206 National Olympic Committees (NOC) reduce their carbon emissions.

Working together with its carbon partner Dow, IOC will help its family of organisations to find different solutions to climate change.

The new initiative is part of the IOC’s commitment to support and lead the Olympic movement – including the NOCs and international sports federations – in integrating sustainability into their operations. It is aimed at helping the organisations understand, measure and reduce their carbon footprint.

"We consider climate change to be one of the biggest emergencies humanity has ever faced and the IOC wants to ensure that the Olympic movement addresses it in an impactful way," said Michelle Lemaitre, IOC’s head of sustainability.

Nicoletta Piccolrovazzi Dow’s circular economy director added: "The climate change challenge calls on us to find innovative ways of working together to build a low-carbon future.

"I'm delighted that, through this new joint initiative, we can now extend the impact and help encourage greater climate action beyond the IOC to the Olympic Movement,"

Dow first started implementing carbon mitigation programmes at the 2014 Sochi Winter Games. The success of the programme led to the company becoming the IOC’s official carbon partner in 2017.

The partnership will allow the IOC to deliver more and more climate benefits which is enabled by the material science provided by DOW.

The initiative will include multiple climate solutions from avoiding deforestation to energy efficiency and renewable energy.

They will be implemented in major jurisdictions including the Americas, Africa and Asia and have been approved by the International Carbon Reduction and Offset Alliance (ICROA).