Will the Games be sustainable?
Mike Tuffrey also was engaged in scrutiny of the Olympics this week as the Assembly’s Environment Committee looked at how plans were progressing to make the 2012 Games sustainable.Energy use, the carbon footprint and a sustainable food strategy were a few of the topics explored as member’s of the Environment Committee. The Commission for a Sustainable London 2012 has raised concerns over LOCOG’s ability to meet its commitment to provide 20% of electricity during the Games-time from local renewable sources. This has not been done before and the nature of the energy market is not well geared towards such short-term contracts. How would plans to work with the utility sponsor (appointed by LOCOG) and utility partner (appointed by the ODA) and has work been done on linking the energy and waste agendas, e.g. through the use of biofuels from anaerobic digestion facilities were topics explored.
The timing of the 2012 Games at the end of the Kyoto period, coupled with the global profile of the event presents a unique opportunity to set the standard for staging low carbon major events and to influence emissions beyond the scope of the Games legacy.
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