The Green Party this week is issuing a damning report on the low environmental standards set for the games.
The document, named More Hurdles to Jump, follows the announcement of new sustainability plans by the Olympic Delivery Authority. But the Greens keep their claims.
“We praise the ODA for addressing targets until now. But in many areas their future plans don’t go far enough," said Adam White, spokesman of the Green Party.
“They have a good budget and still much time. We want them to set ambitious targets”.
Olympics’ Environmental Plans
Organizers of London 2012 are championing low carbon-emissions, low waste and green transportation under the flag “One Planet Olympic Games”.
The Olympics will legate London with the biggest park since Victorian times in an eastern site now described as brown-field site, meaning it is derelict and contaminated.
According to the conservation group WWF, an environmental advisor of the ODA, “hosting the Games is not just about avoiding harm to the environment and the local communities, it is also a real opportunity to bring about lasting environmental and social improvement”.
The environmental targets set out by the Olympic authority include:
- More than 90% of the materials used in construction and demolition works will be reused or recycled
- 20% of the site’s energy will come from renewable sources
- 50 miles of walking an cycle routes will be built around the Olympic Park to make the Games a totally “car-free event”
- No permanent structures will be built on Greenfield sites
Greens denounce low standards
Last September, the Green Party urged the International Olympic Committee to investigate the levels of air pollution in London, which exceed te European limits.
The Greens also warned “the current targets on renewable energy, energy efficiency and water conservation risk being overtaken by the minimum regulatory standards that will be in place by 2012 and the amount of car parking provided is too high for the goal of a 100% public transport, walking and cycling for spectators".
They also showed disappointment that only 20% of the energy for the Olympic Village will come from renewable resources.
The Olympic village should be a “showpiece of the carbon-neutral buildings” the government has targeted for 2016, the party claimed.
Green London Assembly Member, Darren Johnson, said: “The organizers of the 2012 Olympics are setting such low standards for the environment, community benefits and long term legacy, that they are in danger of delivering a bog standard event, rather than a gold standard spectacle”.
