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The Beijing winter games are taking measure to cut the hefty carbon footprint of the Olympics, part of a broader push for ‘carbon-positive’ games by 2030
Marie Sallois is head of sustainability for the International Olympic Committee.
In just a few days, during the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, the world will focus on the performances of Olympic athletes. The games are first and foremost a sporting event.
But as we are racing to avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change, efforts to decarbonize the games will be scrutinized more than ever.
As guardians of the Olympic Games, we welcome this scrutiny.
A large, global event, the games still come with a footprint. And historically this footprint has been significant. The games have always been a reflection of the times we lived in.
In the past, cities transformed and developed to accommodate the event. We are now shifting this model to make the games adapt to the hosts and to their long-term needs.
Olympic Agenda 2020 obliges games organisers to reduce construction, ensure climate neutrality and leave host cities and regions better equipped to face modern-day challenges.
The new host requirements have already helped reduce emissions from 3.3 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent for London 2012 to an anticipated 1.5 million for Paris 2024.
Beijing 2022 is set to deliver climate neutral games.
The hosts want to achieve this by reusing and repurposing existing facilities, retrofitting them with footprint-reducing measures, powering the games with clean energy and by developing lasting public transport solutions.
Any residual emissions will be compensated by large-scale afforestation projects.
Critics may call it window-dressing. Admittedly, given the enormity of the challenge of reducing global emissions, these efforts may seem symbolic.
But the role of the Olympic Games goes beyond minimizing the event’s own footprint. Hosting is an opportunity to display solutions which can help unhook the world from its lingering addiction to fossil fuels and serve as a launchpad for their implementation.
Within their remit, the games’ symbolism can be a powerful driver of change and an incentive for everyone to play their part.
From 4-20 February 2022 in Beijing, the world will get a glimpse of that potential.
As countries around the world try to roll back their reliance on coal, we will see an Olympic Games with all its venues powered by wind and solar energy sources.
Accelerated by the games, a new power grid transfers wind and solar energy from Zhangjiakou to Beijing, supplying about 10% of the city’s electricity consumption, as well as powering the games.
As cities strive to boost public transport links, we will see a high-speed train connecting the three competition zones of Beijing, Yanqing and Zhangjiakou. Opened as part of preparations for the games, the train reduces travel time for the 174-kilometer journey from three hours to less than 60 minutes.
Snowboard competitions will take place in a former industrial complex turned urban regeneration area. And, for the first time in China and at Olympic Winter Games, compressed carbon dioxide gas, circulated through flood pipes, will be used as a low-carbon way to cool ice rinks.
Millions of people around the world will become familiar with new technologies and carbon-reducing solutions they may have never heard of.
While today all games are obliged to be carbon-neutral, from 2030 onwards, the IOC will oblige all games editions to be ‘climate positive’. Organisers will be required to reduce direct and indirect emissions of the games, compensate more than the remaining ones, and create lasting zero-carbon solutions.
Paris 2024 has committed to achieving this goal already in 2024. The IOC itself will halve its own footprint by 2030 and create an Olympic forest to become climate positive in 2024.
No doubt, getting to zero emissions is hard and progress has not and will not always be linear. And yes, when the upcoming winter games wrap up, the challenge of reducing emissions on a larger scale will still be daunting.
But we will have witnessed a new level of ambition for a low-carbon future, in China and around the world.
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