Green guidelines published for London 2012

London 2012 Olympic Games organisers have published sustainability guidelines aimed at cutting the environmental impact of corporate and public events leading up to the games.


David Stubbs, London 2012 head of sustainability for London 2012, which is delivering the games alongside the Olympic Delivery Authority, said: “Between now and 2012, we will be holding any number of events, from press conferences to cultural events and our guidelines will ensure they are arranged and run in the most sustainable way possible.

“We are fully committed to ensuring that our games and everything that happens in the run-up reaches the highest possible standards in terms of sustainability.”

The first edition of the guidelines published last week (Feb 25) is part of London 2012’s bid to comply with the new British Standard for a Sustainable Event Management System (BS 8901), which it helped develop.

They will help guide organisers of events associated with the games, including conferences, seminars, roadshows, workshops, cultural events and promotional launches.

The guidelines cover ten topic areas, including venue selection, impacts on venue and local area, transport and travel, sourcing products and services, health, safety and security, energy consumption, catering provisions, waste and cleaning, communications and giveaways.

On the latter, London 2012 says it is keen to “challenge this culture” of freebies, delegate packs and gifts towards a “more sustainable approach”.

Anne Hayes, BSI British Standards head of market development, risk and sustainability, said: “BSI is delighted London 2012 has published its Sustainability Guidelines for individual corporate and public events and will be using BS 8901 to ensure the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games will be as sustainable as possible.

“This sets a great example for any organisation wishing to reduce the impact of its events.”

London 2012 says it will be reviewing the guidelines to see how they work in practice and releasing updated editions.

Games events, including test events, the torch relay, opening and closing ceremonies, will all be subject to a “full sustainability management system”, it says.

To read the guidelines in full go to the London 2012 website www.london2012.com

David Gibbs

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