When the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Evaluation Commission arrives in London this week for a four-day inspection of London’s 2012 bid for the Summer Olympic Games, London 2012 officials will be highlighting the “green” aspect of the bid.
Jonathon Porrit, chair of the government’s Sustainable Development Commission, will be on hand to stress London bid’s ecological credentials, reports the London Observer.
According to the newspaper Porritt will tell the IOC’s inspection team that a London Games would be the first Olympics in history to help, rather than harm, the planet, and bid leaders hope his presentation will help sway the IOC, which is increasingly concerned that staging the Olympics can leave the host city with a damaging environmental legacy.
During the 2000 Sydney Games, billed as “the green games”, critics complained that a third of Bondi Beach was torn up for the beach volleyball venue and the Homebush Bay area around the main Olympic stadium was not decontaminated.
There were also problems at the Athens 2004 Games and, as the Observer reports, IOC members want to avoid repeating those mistakes.
London 2012’s bid includes a series of new waterways, a huge urban park, and sports venues with guaranteed usage after 2012 as part of the massive regeneration that would take place in the Lower Lea Valley, in the city’s East End.
Bid officials said they will use energy not derived from carbon fuels to cut greenhouse gas emissions, and recycle all waste materials instead of throwing them into landfill sites. They would also encourage visitors to travel through the Channel Tunnel instead of flying.
And a first for an Olympic bid city in the 44-year history of the World Wildlife Fund – the organization has endorsed London’s 2012 bid.
When the inspectors arrive in London for their inspection visit from February 16-19 the 13 members will hear presentations on 17 different aspects of the bid, visit proposed venues, and examine public transport. They will be driven through the new five-mile tunnel between St. Pancras station and Stratford station in the East End, which in the future will give Eurostar and other trains fast access to the heart of London.
There will be presentations on security and funding and on Friday the Evaluation Commission members will dine at Buckingham Palace where Princess Anne, one of Britain’s three members of the IOC, will join the Queen.
Bid leaders hope that Prince William will be part of the team who make the final presentation on London’s bid to the IOC on July 6, before the 2012 host city is chosen.
