Towards a One Planet 2012

Overview

The sustainability strategy for London’s 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games aims to make it by far the greenest Games the world has ever seen.

Bid stage
As part of the One Planet programme, BioRegional and WWF worked with London 2012’s environment team to produce a bid-stage strategy for the Games which impressed independent environmental experts. The ‘Towards a One Planet Olympics’ bid report which details solutions for zero waste and low carbon strategies, local supply networks, sustainable transport , wildlife biodiversity and an ongoing legacy for a sustainable community.

One Planet Living recognises that if everyone in the world lived as we do in Europe, we would need three planets to support us. Therefore we need to reduce our impact by two thirds to a sustainable and globally equitable level. Drawing on these principles, London 2012 is proposing a range of sustainable development themes, including:

• Low carbon Games – to reduce energy demand and meet it from zero/low carbon and renewable sources and to showcase how the Olympic Games are adapting to a world increasingly affected by climate change
• Zero waste Games - to avoid landfill by reducing waste at source, then reusing, recycling and recovering all remaining waste
• Conservation of biodiversity - to conserve natural habitats and wildlife, improve the quality of urban greenspace and to bring nature closer to people
• Sustainable transport – to reduce the need for travel and provide sustainable alternatives to the private car
• Sustainable legacy – to promote health and wellbeing through an integrated package of sporting, environmental and cultural initiatives.

Post bid work
Since preparations for the delivery of the Games began BioRegional and WWF have been active in helping to deliver this vision. We have given detailed critical comment on the Olympic Delivery Authority’s sustainable development strategy and provided key input into the development of the programme-wide London 2012 Sustainability Plan, including organising and leading a workshop for key delivery stakeholders. This now provides a framework for sustainability across the wide-ranging London 2012 programme and is a key part of the culture and education programmes too.

BioRegional have played a key role during the demolition process in the Olympic Park, surveying around 60% (to date) of buildings, identifying materials that can be reclaimed and estimating CO2 savings. BioRegional have participated in workshops with the Olympic Park and bridge designers to integrate reclaimed materials into the design process. BioRegional have also contributed to initial strategic work on themes such as biodiversity conservation, sustainable food and sustainable construction materials.

We want the London Games to be truly sustainable Games and the message is already being enthusiastically received. We believe there is the potential for the Olympic movement, Paralympic movement and sport generally, to be a vehicle for raising environmental awareness among new audiences, people not normally reached by conventional environmental campaigns.

London 2012 will demonstrate the power of the Games to bring people together, and leave a sustainable legacy to be proud of. We look forward to continuing to work with WWF and the London 2012 team on this journey.

For more info about the London 2012 Olympics Games go to www.london2012.com