Back in 2009, Olympic officials were claiming that the Sochi Winter Games would be the "greenest" games ever. But besides a large carbon offset, the Olympics' sustainability efforts have been underwhelming.
With a $51 billion price tag, a lack of snow, and a recent report about the future of the games given the impacts of global climate change, the 2014 Olympic Games are in tricky political territory from an environmental standpoint. In response to the pressure, and the promises, to make these the "greenest" games ever, Matt Kwong makes an account of the environmental successes and failures of the 2014 Winter Olympics.
Acknowledging the reported cases of some fudging on promises about zero waste and more, Kwong also takes a closer look at the corporate sponsors of the games.
For instance, "chemicals giant Dow has pledged to offset the organizing committee’s entire direct carbon footprint…" But despite that company's large contribution, "The only other sponsor with a clear environmental angle to its Olympics pledge is GE. The conglomerate is supplying two very high efficiency“aero-derivative” gas turbines to help power the games. The units…will provide both base load and peak load power to the Olympics village and venues…"
FULL STORY: Winter Olympics 2014: a missed opportunity to advance sustainability
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