Greenpeace Scorecard For Beijing Olympics


Gold medals, silver, bronze. World records, fun performances. Now that it is all over, back to the ordinary, grey everyday life. On the air pollution score, Beijing has invested in new subway and bus lines, applying high emissions standards (Beijing has lately moved to the very stringent Euro IV) and cleaner energy in and around Beijing.

China made big promises to clean up Beijing for the 2008 Olympic Games. How well did they do? Greenpeace’s new Olympic report has some answers.

"It is crucial that the [IOC] requires host cities to set comparable and mandatory environmental standards, thereby ensuring that environment is honored as the third pillar of the Olympics, after sports and culture," said Lo Sze Ping, Greenpeace China's campaign director.

Download the full report here

Each chapter deals with very interesting details that you will probably not be getting on your regular sports pages:

Executive summary/The environment, Beijing and the 2008 Olympic Games
Air quality
Climate change, energy use and refrigerants
Transportation
Water and sewage treatment
Forests
Toxic materials and waste management
Olympic sponsor environmental commitments
Public engagement
Conclusion

Greenpeace praises Beijing for:

• Using state-of-the-art renewable energy saving technologies in the Olympic Village
• Setting new vehicle emissions to the very stringent EURO IV standard ahead of schedule.
• Building five new subway lines to encourage public transportation
• Launching a fleet of 3,759 buses running on compressed natural gas.
• Helping 32 000 households to convert from coal heating systems to electric heating systems.
• Establishing the Guanting wind power station, Beijing’s first wind power generation station capable of generating 100 million kWh of electricity a year.
• Improving its wastewater treatment plants, sewage and water reuse systems.

Greenpeace is disappointed that Beijing did not:

• Make environmentally-friendly policies for the Games in the areas of procurement and construction binding
• Apply water saving technologies across the city
• Pursue a zero-waste policy instead of building more landfill sites and incinerators.
• Introduce an internationally recognizable timber procurement policy, such as the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standard, for the construction material used during the Games
• Eradicate climate-damaging HFC technology in some Olympic facilities
• Make environmental data and certification of Olympic venues fully transparent.

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