Paul Deighton, Chief Executive of the
London Organizing Committee identifies six major highlights that demonstrate
where they and their partners have been able to set new standards for
sustainability:
1 The Olympic Park: The most sustainable
Olympic Stadium ever built was completed on time and budget and to high
sustainability standards. The Park itself is the largest new urban parkland in
Europe for 150 years. It is already developing a mature landscape, and the
cleaned up and re-profiled river valley is providing
both new wildlife habitat and significant flood alleviation – early examples of
lasting legacy benefits.
2 Carbon management: London 2012 is the first
summer Olympic and Paralympic Games to measure its carbon footprint over the
entire project term. By using the outcomes of the foot-printing assessment to inform
decision-making, we’ve radically improved our ability to avoid, reduce and
substitute carbon emissions associated with delivering the Games.
3 Sustainable transport: Our commitment to
delivering a public transport Games means nine million ticket holders will
experience sustainable events like never before from the way they travel. Our
Active Travel program, launched in October 2011,
aims to achieve one million extra journeys by walking and cycling in London
each day of
the Games.
4 Food Vision: London 2012 is the first
Games to specify stringent sustainability requirements for its catering
operations. All our caterers are signed up to the Food Vision standards and are
ready to serve 14 million sustainably sourced meals. Meanwhile, the excellent
work of the Food Legacy Group is extending the Food Vision approach
to
other sectors and organizations beyond the Games.
5 Waste: Our commitment to
delivering a zero waste to landfill Games is another first for the Games and
has required detailed planning, as set out in our recently published Zero Waste
Games Vision. The work of the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) on the Olympic
Park construction has set a very high bar, achieving 98.5 per cent and 99 per
cent rates of re-use and recycling of materials in demolition and construction
respectively.
6 Standards: In 2011 LOCOG
became the first Organizing Committee to be certified
to the British Standard 8901: Specification for a Sustainability Management
Systems for Events. The standard was inspired by the London 2012 bid and is
proof of how deeply sustainability has been embedded into our organization. Achieving the standard
enhances our ability to deliver sustainability across all the areas that matter
to stakeholders.
Well Done London!!!
We left sunny Florida this morning and spent some pleasant driving time going North up the coast. We hit some rain storms in Georgia and South Carolina, and arrived in Charleston in the early evening hours. 
