Month: July 2024

International Olympic Committee news

As the first Games fully aligned with Olympic Agenda 2020, Paris 2024 is showing how bringing the Games to a country can bring social, economic and health benefits to its people. The legacy of Paris 2024 is already visible across the nation – from getting people more involved in sport to creating equal economic opportunities for everyone and catering to the needs of local communities.

Sport for health and education

The Paris 2024 “Bouger Plus” (Move More) campaign aims to bring more sport to more people, as part of an ambition to combat sedentary lifestyles and obesity – a growing issue among the French population.

Paris 2024 successfully advocated and supported the implementation of a daily 30-minute exercise period at all French schools. Adopted as a national policy, the campaign is being progressively introduced into all 36,250 primary schools. The positive impact of daily exercise on pupils is already visible, with 94 per cent of teachers reporting an improvement in children’s well-being, attention and concentration.

To further promote physical activity among young French people, schools and higher education establishments can be awarded the Generation 2024 label, recognising their joint efforts with local authorities and sports clubs to actively foster sports practice. So far, more than 8,700 schools and higher education establishments across the nation have obtained the label.

In Seine-Saint-Denis, where half of kids aged 11 do not know how to swim, Paris 2024 has offered free swimming and water safety lessons to more than 9,400 children since 2020. The “1,2,3 Nagez!” (1,2,3 Swim!) project has now reached kids across the whole of France, teaching more than 26,000 children essential swimming skills.

The Terre de Jeux 2024 label, meanwhile, brings local authorities, sports clubs, federations and leagues together to collaborate on projects that promote the Games and get people in France more involved in sport. More than 50,000 projects have been facilitated by partnerships under the Terre de Jeux accreditation.

And Paris 2024 set up the first-ever Olympic legacy-focused investment fund, Impact 2024, to finance projects that promote health, well-being, education, inclusion, equality and environmental improvements. With EUR 47 million in funding distributed, the endowment fund has supported more than 1,100 grassroots projects to date.

Social and economic legacy

In line with its “Games wide open” slogan, Paris 2024 is creating equal economic opportunities for everyone. Aiming for more inclusive, more responsible and more sustainable Games, it developed a Social Charter, a first in Olympic host history.

The Social Charter was signed in 2019 by public and private stakeholders, trade unions and employer organisations, and its 16 commitments focus on decent working conditions, social inclusion and ensuring small- and medium-sized enterprises get access to project contracts.

The Social Charter commitments are clearly being met, as some 181,000 people have found employment in Games-related jobs. As for keeping it local, 90 per cent of the Paris 2024 Games suppliers are French, while 78 per cent of them are small- and medium-sized businesses, with more than 500 local businesses from the social and solidarity economy (ESS).

Venue legacy

As per Olympic Agenda 2020, the Games adapt to host city needs, and not the other way around. To reduce cost and carbon emissions, hosts are required to prioritise existing and temporary venues and only build new infrastructure where there is a long-term need for it, and to the highest sustainability standards possible.

The location of one of the few venues built for the Games, the Aquatics Centre, is a strategic choice. Located at the heart of Seine-Saint-Denis, which lacks sports facilities and where one in every two 11-year-olds cannot swim, the venue will become a multi-sports facility after the Games, catering to the needs of the local population over the long term.

After hosting 15,000 athletes from over 200 nations, the Olympic Village will provide more than 2,800 new homes to the local population. A quarter of these new apartments will become public housing, and the rest will be rented out at affordable prices for low-income residents. Additional offices, shops, restaurants and leisure centres on site are planned, with the hope being to reduce the unemployment rate in the district, which currently exceeds 20 per cent.

This blog is part of our focus on Cisco employees who are “Striving for Sustainability” by finding opportunities to integrate sustainability in their day-to-day work.

When I announced the company’s next generation environmental sustainability strategy, The Plan for Possible, last July, it led Cisco employees to wonder how to further integrate sustainability into their work. And this can be done in many ways, no matter what area you work in.

Meet Pelin Salem. She is a Radio Regulatory Technical Leader at Cisco who spearheaded an initiative on test optimization at Cisco to reduce testing time, improve energy efficiency, and help reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. She shares more about her interest in sustainability, her professional background, and how collaboration is vital when developing new climate solutions.

When did your interest in sustainability begin?

Pelin: I have always been connected to nature and animals, volunteering for environmental and animal welfare causes. As a 7th grader, I served on the youth leadership team for a Turkish non-governmental organization (NGO) known as the TEMA Foundation (The Turkish Foundation for Combating Soil Erosion). I organized a youth march to protest the pollution generated by an iron and steel works factory, which was very well received and helped the community acknowledge that the next generation is trying to do something good and help.

Later in my life, while living in Sonoma, California, during the fall of 2017 with my then 6-month-old daughter, we experienced the fear of a natural disaster when a fire burned down half of the surrounding neighborhoods, and ash rained from the sky for weeks. It was very heartbreaking, and several of our friends and colleagues woke up in the middle of the night to their houses burning, and they had to run away barefoot from their homes and lost everything they owned. It was a difficult time to see everyone suffer, and there were aftereffects, like the air quality not improving for several months in that region. Since climate change can exacerbate natural disasters like wildfires, I knew we could not continue what we were doing. It made me realize that I should do my absolute best to support sustainability initiatives.

Tell us more about your professional journey and what brought you to Cisco.

Pelin: My journey began with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering (EE), then I immersed myself in the defense industry while pursuing my master’s degree in EE. However, academia beckoned, and I seized the opportunity to embark on a Ph.D. journey. When my husband was offered a position at a newly established international research institution, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia, I paused my studies to join him. At KAUST, I delved into bioscience pursuing a second master’s degree, driven by a desire to merge my radio frequency (RF) expertise with biomedical research that could make a positive impact on humankind. After a rewarding break to focus on raising my daughter and completing my Ph.D., I found my professional home at Cisco in January 2019. The company’s supportive culture and leadership resonate deeply with me, and I envision it as where I’ll build my future career and retire someday.

Can you explain how you started your work supporting sustainability at Cisco?

Pelin: I currently work as a Radio Regulatory Technical Leader within the Corporate Compliance team under the Product and Component Operations Team. Prior to my current role, I served as a New Product Introduction Test Development Engineer within the Industrial Internet of Things business unit (IOTBU). During my time in the IOTBU, I focused on designing manufacturing test lines in the factories for new products. This involved close collaboration with our manufacturing partners to design efficient test lines.

Cisco’s commitment to quality meant rigorous testing of products, which contributed to GHG emissions, especially in energy-intensive testing areas like the 2-Corner and 4-Corner test sections where the manufactured Cisco products are tested at the high-low temperature and voltage specification limits to support top performance at the edges of the defined operational conditions. 2-Corner testing is done at High Temperature – High Voltage and Low Temperature – Low Voltage corners, whereas 4-Corner testing has additional corners as follows: High Temperature – Low Voltage and Low Temperature – High Voltage. Limited capacity in these areas could lead to delays in production schedules.

To tackle these challenges, I initiated the “Test Optimization Dashboard” project in March 2021. This project aimed to automate and visualize the impact of test optimization efforts, reducing the time needed for optimization and increasing team enthusiasm. Working closely with sustainability subject matter experts (SMEs), we developed methods to measure GHG emissions reductions resulting from optimization.

After successful pilots, I presented our findings to executives, gaining support for wider implementation across business units. Transitioning to automated workflows streamlined the optimization process, significantly reducing manual entry. Collaborating with experts, we developed plans for further improvements, including an artificial intelligence (AI)-based model to estimate energy consumption.

Our ongoing efforts include collecting data to train AI models for GHG emissions tracking. By highlighting the environmental impact of testing processes and advocating for optimization, we aim to advance sustainability, product quality and innovation.

This sounds like a complex project. What kind of support did you receive for it?

I am grateful for all the SMEs collaborating with me on this Cisco-wide effort. Cisco has top talent in such diverse areas, and I feel privileged to know them and get to work with them. My current organization was also supportive and provided me with the space to continue contributing to Cisco’s sustainability goals beyond my “regular job” duties.

I am forever grateful that our Executive Vice President and General Manager of Cisco Networking Jonathan Davidson opened such important doors for me and this project, and his support was invaluable for the Test Optimization Dashboard to reach a 75% enablement rate across Cisco. Receiving invaluable support and guidance from my executive mentors and sponsors immensely helped ideate, locate resources, and develop solutions that can help advance sustainability in manufacturing processes.

We know it takes a multifaceted approach when it comes to sustainability. What can Cisco employees do in their day-to-day jobs to help reduce our company’s environmental impact?

Pelin: Everybody can do so much. For example, Cisco has a goal that 100% of new Cisco products and packaging incorporate Circular Design Principles by Cisco´s fiscal year 2025. And, in another example, packaging engineers are helping to eliminate plastic bags, papers, and remove accessory items that are not required for a standard configuration in our packaging wherever possible.

Some engineers at Cisco work on IoT technology used in smart building technology that senses when lights should be turned off or blinds should be lowered. And our operations team moved away from paper cups and other single-use items in our break rooms and cafeterias.

Is there anything you do in your personal life to be more sustainable, and if so, what advice do you have for others?

Pelin: At home, I prioritize sustainability by reducing waste, conserving energy, choosing environmentally friendly products, supporting local and organic options, minimizing water usage, utilizing lower-emissions transportation (driving an electric vehicle or using public transit, keeping flight GHG emission scores under consideration when choosing flights, etc.). I also educate my daughter (who just turned 7) on making better choices for the planet.

Let’s start small with actions like recycling properly, conserving energy, and supporting local businesses. Every effort, no matter how small, helps to contribute to a more sustainable future.

Thank you for giving me this opportunity to share my story and I hope it will be inspiring for others to start making change for a more sustainable future within their domains.

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