Mega-sporting events such as the Olympics are exciting for fans the world over, but they can have profound impacts on the environment and economy of a host country. The massive infrastructure build-up, the resources and energy consumption, and the amount of human and financial capital invested in these ambitious undertakings are huge and can bring unsustainable risks with poor regulatory oversight. On the other hand, such investments can provide unique opportunities to accelerate the green transition of a local economy.
Recognizing the importance of green growth and sustainable development, both the International Olympics Committee (IOC) and the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) have mandated host countries to unleash the sustainability potential when organizing an Olympics. The IOC has put sustainability at the heart of its roadmap in its Olympic Agenda 2020 while the UNGA passed a resolution in 2018 that declared sport as an enabler of sustainable development.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has also taken an active role in ensuring the Games are “green”. For example, it provided policy suggestions and technical advice to implement sustainable practices at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, especially when it came to air quality improvement efforts, and assessed environmental measures taken in the preparation and hosting process after the event. Environmental and greening practices taken at the 2008 Games can serve as a reference for cities hosting major international sporting events in the future.
In 2022, the UNEP China Office was invited again by its Chinese partners to support the greening and sustainability efforts for the Beijing Winter Olympic Games. Policy support and technical advice this time were in line with UNEP’s International Good Practice Principles for Sustainable Infrastructure, which sets out 10 principles that policymakers can follow to help integrate sustainability into infrastructure planning – both soft and hard infrastructure development – and delivery for large-scale projects. As outlined in a MDPI Sustainability study, applying integrated approaches to Olympics infrastructure is particularly important for sustainability and should be incorporated as early as possible in the infrastructure planning stage.
The following are examples of how some of the principles were applied to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games:
Principle 1: Strategic planning
In 2020, Beijing released a sustainability plan – in accordance with ISO standards – that included 119 specific measures aimed at making the 2022 Games “green, inclusive, open and clean”. In addition to the plan, a series of actions were taken before, during and after the Games to foster positive environmental impact, new development for the region and better life for the people.
Principle 2: Responsive, resilient and flexible service provision
New construction was reduced by retrofitting and repurposing existing infrastructure, especially those built for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. For example, the Water Cube, where the swimming events took place, has been transformed into the Ice Cube, for hosting curling competitions. The structure won the 2019 IOC Sport and Sustainable Architecture Prize for its cost-cutting transformation.
Principle 4: Avoiding environmental impacts and investing in nature
To address the concern on local ecosystems conversation, the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s mitigation hierarchy – a framework for managing risks and potential impacts related to biodiversity and ecosystem services – was integrated in the Olympic venue site planning and management. To reach the carbon-neutral goal, 100% of the electricity at the Games were generated from renewable energy, and electrical vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell cars were the most applied transportation options. To offset emissions from construction and air travel, roughly 60 million trees were planted in the 2 hosting cities, Beijing and Zhangjiakou.
Principle 5: Resource efficiency and circularity
To optimize water usage for snowmaking and human consumption, a series of water-conserving and recycling designs were put into place. Other practices to increase resource efficiency and reduce waste included applying the highest green building certification scheme in China for all new Olympics venues.
Principle 6: Equity, inclusiveness and empowerment
The 2022 Beijing Olympics is the most gender-balanced Winter Game, with women making up 45% of the athletes. Outside the competition, 65% of the workforce in the sports venue in Zhangjiakou were women.
Principle 7: Enhancing economic benefits
Since getting the bid to host the Winter Olympics, China saw its winter sports industry accelerate and tourism boosted. Income from ice and snow tourism exceeded RMB 390 billion ($58 billion) in the 2020-2021 snow season. This investment created a new and vibrant employment sector, lifting all 12 poverty-stricken counties and districts in Zhangjiakou out of poverty. In addition, transport infrastructure – in particular, high-speed railways and expressways to connect the three venues of the Winter Olympics in Beijing and Hebei Province – were constructed to foster better regional connectivity.
Principle 9: Transparent, inclusive and participatory decision-making
The local government in Zhangjiakou adopted participatory policy-making process and public consultation with regards to resettlement issues. The deployment of ICT infrastructure played a key role in information disclosure.
Since setting up its representative office in Beijing in 2003, UNEP has worked closely with the Government of China and partners to address sustainability issues, and will continue to support the country in achieving its Sustainable Development Goals.
Contributor: QIAN Chengchen, Economic and Trade Policy Unit, UNEP
Reviewer: SHENG Fulai, Head, Economic and Trade Policy Unit, UNEP