The final post-games sustainability report reveals that the London 2012 Olympic Games had a 28% smaller carbon footprint than predicted, saving 400,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent from construction to the closing ceremony.
According to the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG) report, the Games made significant savings against the reference footprint, from construction, which came in at 15% lower, to the energy use at venues, which was 34% lower – saving 31,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
As the first Games to use carbon footprinting to monitor its environmental planning the performance, the report says that London 2012 realised real benefits from the approach.
The Games’ reductions in power and fuel use brought more than £9 million in savings, while lower water use meant a 40% saving.
And following the Games, nearly £8 million worth of equipment and materials have been sold for reuse: with lighting, wood, doors and plasterboard redeployed by local charities, community programmes and building projects.
“We are strongly convinced that the embedding of sustainability on this scale can only be supported through constructive dialogue and a partnership approach,” says David Stubbs, head of sustainability at LOCOG. “We are proud of our achievements but this is just the beginning; we hope that [the]… learnings from the London 2012 Games will present a significant step change in the way future events are managed.”
Sir Tim Smit, chief executive and co-founder of the Eden Project in Cornwall and the sustainability ambassador for London 2012 hailed the Games’ achievements.
“The LOCOG Sustainability team have done London, the Olympic Movement and event management a colossal service in creating the first really meaningful template for measuring environmental impacts of an event.”
For further information:
www.london2012.com/mm/Document/Documents/General/01/42/88/99/London2012PostGamesSustainabilityReport_Neutral.pdf
Related stories:
London 2012 Olympic Games on track to meet sustainability targets (16-Nov)
London 2012 Olympic Games hit green as well as gold (6-Aug)
London 2012 Olympic venues to monitor energy use in real-time (18-Jul)
Article source: http://www.energyefficiencynews.com/i/5628/
