The post-Games report, entitled London 2012 – From Vision to Reality, presents the final conclusions through key sustainability themes, with information based on first-hand observations and data gathered by the Commission during Games-time.

The report concludes that the London 2012 Games broadly delivered against its sustainability objectives, and highlights several examples of leading practice which the Commission urges future Olympic and Paralympic organisers to follow.

Using today’s release of its post-Games report, the Commission has called on the UK to lead the charge in ensuring London’s lessons are firmly embedded into the events industry.

Ambitious sustainability targets such as zero waste to landfill and 70% waste to be re-used, recycled or composted are on track thanks to efforts such as meticulous attention to packaging and the effective use of the colour coded three-bin system.

The transport system delivered an excellent service, and London 2012 should be praised for being the first Games to offer a fully comprehensive mobility service. Comprehensive public transport options and effective planning meant that the logistical operation for the Games was delivered with minimal disruption to Londoners.

Another success story was the food, with a wide variety of healthy, sustainably sourced, affordable meals available at most London 2012 venues, driven from the start by the development of the impressive London 2012 ‘Food Vision’ – a first for major event catering.

Shaun McCarthy, Chair of the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012, said:

“I have no hesitation in confirming that London 2012 has delivered the most sustainable Games ever, and we congratulate the delivery bodies and all those who contributed to this excellent achievement. But we mustn’t rest on our laurels – more could be achieved if London’s lessons, both the good and the challenging, are heeded by others.

“London 2012 has raised the bar on sustainability, not just for future Olympic and Paralympic Games but for industry, and for the organisers of major events the world over – from music festivals to football World Cups. By being open to learning from these successes as well as the missed opportunities, future major projects could even out-perform London 2012’s sustainability achievements.

“Minister for Sport Hugh Robertson has said that Government is now ‘focused on delivering the legacy from the Games’. The UK is hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2014, the Rugby World Cup in 2015, and the Olympic Stadium hosting the World Athletics Championships in 2017 – what better way to deliver the legacy than by embedding leading sustainability practice in these events? I call on the organisers to pick up the sustainability baton and carry it forward, demonstrating to the UK public that we can rely on them to meet the spirit of London’s sustainability achievements.”

However, the Commission’s findings also point to some areas during the London 2012 Games where further improvements could have been made.

The Live Sites provided an excellent opportunity for the public to soak up the Games atmosphere for free, but the Commission was disappointed that many of the Live Sites refused to allow the public to bring in their own food; compromising affordability and the principle of creating an event for all budgets.

Although Games-time carbon savings are on track to be achieved, the Commission remains disappointed with LOCOG’s slow development of a comprehensive energy plan, which meant opportunities were missed for even further carbon reductions.

The opening and closing ceremonies provided a showcase for messages about sustainability, and elements such as the method of waste management on the Olympic Park and use of green space offered spectators an opportunity to observe sustainability in practice. However, the lack of information available about the venues, village buildings and infrastructure was a missed opportunity for communicating their sustainability credentials to visitors.

The post-Games report can be downloaded in PDF format here.  

The full press release about the report is available here.  

LOCOG’s spectacular success in delivering a low carbon Olympic cauldron set the scene. London 2012 has demonstrated that it is possible to deliver a wonderful variety of sustainably sourced, competitively priced food and aim to dispose of the packaging with recycling and composting performance that should put the rest of the event industry to shame. Green spaces were well looked after. This was billed as the Games for everybody and ample access for people of all abilities was provided. It was great to see families, older people and disabled people enjoying the party too.

Unfortunately LOCOG’s energy conservation plan was developed too late to engage venue managers effectively and despite great efforts of the team on the ground it could have been so much better. The decision not to allow people to bring their own food into the Live Sites in Hyde Park and Victoria Park combined with inferior and expensive catering undermined the principle of “everybody’s Games”. The “no idling” message simply did not get through to bus drivers. Every transport hub we visited we saw stationary vehicles with engines running; polluting the environment, damaging health and haemorrhaging cash. It was a similar picture with many lights left on in broad daylight.

As I have observed over the course of these Games, I have been delighted to watch the new found popularity of East London as visitors have flocked to watch the sport and stayed to shop, socialise and experience the area. Whilst by contrast the West End has reportedly been adversely affected, I’m confident this part of London will bounce back and the important point is that we’re seeing encouraging signs that a sustainable legacy for the East is on its way.

The tremendous success of Team GB at these Games will not be enough to generate a step change for the rest of the nation in terms of health. An increase in sports participation is likely to be short lived and it will take investment in community and school sport and a clear plan to tackle the current obesity crisis.

London 2012 has set high standards but sustainability is not a fixed concept; other host cities need to make their own interpretation. However there are some global issues that must be tackled. The issue of aligning the Olympic values to consistent and improving ethical behaviour by sponsors cannot be ignored and constructive engagement will be necessary in future to improve this situation. Despite the best efforts of LOCOG it has not been possible to entirely eliminate abuses of workers’ rights in the supply chain. This issue goes beyond audits and requires engagement with factory owners, trade unions and the workers themselves. There is an opportunity to build on the good work done by LOCOG to ensure that the heirs to Wenlock and Mandeville are made in conditions where the workers are treated with the respect they deserve.

In the main, London’s sustainable Games have been a massive success but like the best sports teams there is a need to continuously improve. I wish the IOC and future host cities success in proving they can do better.

Now bring on the Paralympics.

Shaun McCarthy

August 2012

On arrival we were transported by bus from Stratford station, my bus driver let his engine idle while we were waiting which is against LOCOG’s policy but I was assured by my fellow guests that their busses had their engines switched off. Let’s put that down to fate, the one bus I happened to take had the engine running. Bad luck rather than bad planning hopefully.

Progress through security was quick and efficient, the massive temporary structure had no air conditioning but it was very cool from natural ventilation and there was plenty of natural light. My first impression and an over- riding impression of the whole event was how friendly, helpful and well informed the staff were. There was always somebody there with a smile able to help. This contrasted slightly with my experience in Beijing where the people were lovely but did not really know what they were doing – they just made you feel better about being lost.

The Village will be a housing development in legacy with 2,700 homes, a school for all ages, a GP poly clinic, shops, playgrounds and the spanking new Stratford International DLR station on the doorstep, not to mention the massive Westfield shopping centre. During the Games the homes are kitted out for athletes with no kitchens, single beds in shared rooms and very basic cheap furniture and laminate flooring. This will all be reused or recycled after the Games and the homes will be fitted out for legacy; 50% affordable housing, 50% homes for sale. This is the first major development to be built to Code for Sustainable Homes Level 4. It will be a very energy and water efficient development in legacy with living roofs and sustainable drainage systems. The school is the operations centre during the Games and the poly clinic is a medical centre for athletes.

The jewel in the sustainable crown was the catering. It is difficult to describe a hall that can seat 5,000 athletes that provides every type of food imaginable 24 hours per day at no cost to the customers. ‘Massive’ does not quite do it somehow. The sustainable experience is everywhere, from the huge HFC-free Coke refrigerator with plenty of healthy drinks from their “Innocent” subsidiary as well as their traditional products and a promise to recycle every bottle used into another bottle within 6 weeks. They have built a new recycling centre in Lincolnshire to achieve this. Healthy, locally produced food is on offer and it was very good. Paper plates and all the packaging is compostable and clearly marked to show which bin to put it in. The beer and wine bottles and plastic glasses are recyclable and also clearly marked. Breakfast the next morning was the same and the food was excellent. There was even a copy of the Village newspaper for guests with a sustainability quiz at the end. This whole system is a credit to Jan Matthews and the LOCOG team who have made painstaking preparations for several years to create a real step change in the catering and waste industries. Well done LOCOG!

Recycling at the Athletes Village

As I was leaving the Olympic Park on foot on a Saturday morning I was shocked to see theWestfieldcentre closed off by the police as a crime scene. While we were enjoying LOCOG’s hospitality a young man had lost his life in a gang fight. A chilling message that there is much to be done in legacy if London 2012 is to be truly a catalyst for sustainable regeneration and for the Olympic Park and its surrounding area to be a safe, healthy and sustainable place for people to live.

Shaun McCarthy

July 2012  

‘The Circular Economy’ at face value sounds like some kind of dubious merry-go-round involving strange job-creation programmes and maybe a giant swap-meet. But far from some weird ponzie scheme, the concept has legs.  In fact, it was recently given prominence by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation whose profound report by the same name highlights the value to the UK Economy of making sure resources are truly optimised from the first time they are used (cradle) to the time they are re-used (grave-cradle) in some other guise.  Rather than the old outdated model of resources in and waste out, the Circular Economy starts from the premise that failing to see resources as in some form of permanent state of use/re-use is an enormous missed economic opportunity and one which the UK is in danger of missing.  It’s like losing one’s glasses – each time you do it and you go out and buy a new pair, you kick yourself for spending money on something you already have (particularly when you find the old pair behind the sofa).  If economies stopped spending money on replacing the things they already had, and instead spent more on getting better value from them, we would be far better positioned for a resource-scarce future.

And it was the Ellen MacArthur Foundation who hosted the networking event – enjoining their partners Cisco in an unabashed pitch for this new, sustainable vision for world economies.  Cisco have in their quite extraordinary temporary building, a viewing experience of the future.  Apart from coming out wailing faintly ‘I’ve been Ciscoed’, I was somewhat amazed by the extent to which ICT knowledge companies and their partners are seeing the future as one which is so fundamentally different to the place we inhabit today.  The power is there to be tapped of entities manufacturing products and delivering technology, infrastructure, and innovation to re-engineer our economies for far better outcomes for the planet and for our communities. Lofty ideals are fantastic, but as it all comes back to tin-tacks in the end – let’s hope the building gets the same circular treatment as the economy when it’s time to pack it all in!

And so, it was no mistake that we were enjoying the view of the stage for the newest, hottest show in town. With the Olympic Park nearly complete, and the focus now on the big show, it is easy to forget that once the sharabang has left town, the green, the social, the technical and the financial infrastructure which remains is the skeleton for London’s Circular Economy.  It is perhaps a heavy responsibility falling on the shoulders of the London Legacy Development Company and all of East London’s entrepreneurs, communities and partners, but what an enormous opportunity!  Here’s to one more turn around the room!