UNEP chief salutes the greenest ever Games

The head of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has this week heralded the organisers of the London Olympics in making this year’s Games the greenest ever.

Achim Steiner, in London to celebrate the release of the capital’s pre-event environmental report, said that the organisers had shown the world how sustainability could be delivered on a “mass-scale”.

“Efforts such as greening of the supply chain, regeneration of an inner-city and bring energy efficiency to local homes, can build the confidence to wider society that sustainability is not theory but infinitely do-able,” said Steiner.

“Once the Games are over, I look forward to analysing the achievements and lessons learned.”

London fended off competition from Madrid, Moscow, New York City, and Paris in 2005 for the right to hold the games; and its organisers believed then, as it does now, that it was its green blueprint that helped them to secure the games.

The plans included the largest new urban parkland in Europe for 150 years, the most sustainable Olympic and Paralympic stadium ever and a “zero-waste Games”.

“The complexities of trying to address sustainability in areas that have never been considered before was a constant challenge,” claims David Stubbs, head of sustainability for the 2012 Games.

London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe added that the Games were already showing signs that it is ready to set the standard for all future major sporting events.

“As we wrap up construction, preparation and planning and move into staging the Games, London 2012 is setting new standards,” Coe commented in the newly published environmental report.

“We're establishing world records right now that will raise sustainability standards and benefit entire industries from construction to event management,” Coe continued.

Event organisers published their first environmental report in April of last year, and at the time claimed that they were on track to cut their carbon footprint by 100,000 tonnes of carbon emissions in the use of materials and in the construction of Olympic venues.

 

Image 01: BaldBoris | Wikimedia Commons

Image 02: Elliot Brown | Wikimedia Commons

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