POSTED: November 19th 2008

InDepth

London hits the colour code

Green Games means more to London than merely the parks in and around the city / lake images

KEIR RADNEDGE / Sports Features Communications

LONDON: Never has the will to turn the Olympic rings a brighter shade of green been more intense.

All the four bid cities pursuing the goal of hosting rights to 2016 are promoting the environmentally-friendly ethos of their projections.

But London is the first city with the opportunity to put brave words into practice – a working methodoly London Organising Committee set out today in publishing the first online edition of its Sustainable Sourcing Code.

This is not going to be a best-seller with the public at large since it is aimed mainly at internal buyers, suppliers and licensees. But it provides clear directives so that all those companies and agencies creating the 2012 Games can make decisions informed by environmental, social and ethical priorites.

The code requires LOCOG and its suppliers to identify, source and use environmentally sound and socially responsible practices based around the four basic principles of responsible sourcing, maximised use of secondary materials, minimising embodied (i.e. environmental) impacts and healthy (i.e. non-polluting) materials.

The significance of such a code is evidenced by the fact that LOCOG alone will generate around 5,000 direct business opportunities, creating approximately 25,000 supply chain opportunities.

Paul Deighton, the ceo of London 2012, said: “These Games represent a fantastic opportunity to deliver a world-class sporting event but in a sustainable way. Our ambition is to set new sustainability benchmarks for the way large-scale events are staged and the Sustainable Sourcing Code is a key part of this – and this is just the first edition. As we move forward we will learn more.”

Keywords · London 2012 · London Organising Committee · Sustainable Sourcing Code · 2012 Games · Paul Deighton

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