The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Wednesday announced its intention to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent by 2030, in response to the growing climate crisis.

Aligning with the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the IOC will also offset more than 100 percent of its remaining carbon emissions, mainly through the Olympic Forest project, which is part of the Great Green Wall, an existing UN-backed initiative to combat desertification in Africa's Sahel region, according to a statement released after an IOC executive board meeting on Wednesday.

Such offsets would make the IOC climate positive by 2024, meaning that it would be removing more carbon from the atmosphere than it emits.

The ambitious target puts the IOC in line with the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global warming to well below two degrees Celsius, and helps to advance action on climate change.

To achieve the 45 percent cut in emissions, the IOC has set an intermediate reduction target of 30 percent to be achieved by 2024. The IOC Sustainability and Legacy Commission has been tasked with developing action plans to achieve both targets.

The IOC has previously committed to making the Olympic Games climate positive. From 2030 onwards, each Olympic Games organizing committee will be contractually obliged to adopt a series of emissions-friendly measures. All upcoming Olympic Games, including Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022, have committed to carbon neutrality. 

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