OLYMPICS NEED TO GO FOR GREEN AS WELL AS GOLD
The recent award of the Nobel Peace Prize for environmental accomplishments makes it a good time to consider what sport has to do with the environment. Today, sport involves a great deal more than fans cheering on their favourite athletes. It is responsible for more so-called “mega events” than just about any other organised activity. The Olympic Games and the football World Cup are two of the biggest. Add in all the other sporting events around the world each year and the result is a considerable movement of people and demand for resources. It has a measurable effect on the environment and carries a serious obligation for organisers.
The Nobel awarded to Al Gore and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change sent a strong message that a sustainable environment is critical to everything, from regional peace to healthy economies. Every nation is part of the problem as well as the solution and 205 of them participate in the Olympic Games. As such, the games offer a rare forum for learning and co-operation.
The wake-up call for the Olympic movement came just before the 1994 Lillehammer games, when the Norwegian organising committee requested that the environment be added to sport and culture as a third pillar of the Olympic movement. That year, the International Olympic Committee signed a co-operative agreement with the United Nations Environment Programme to consider closely how the games could reduce their impact on the environment. A year later, the IOC established its Sport and Environment Commission including representation from the UN programme.
Since then, the IOC has become increasingly aware that the responsibility lies with the Olympic movement to provide concrete practical solutions for candidate and host cities. Organisation of each Olympic Games now includes nearly 150 criteria for measuring their consequences to host cities – from environmental to social and economic aspects. For the environment, organising committees assess as many as 34 distinct factors over time. They include air quality, land usage trends and greenhouse gas emissions.
For Beijing 2008, cutting-edge energy, lighting and water treatment solutions are being implemented based on new technologies. They include advanced, membrane-filtered wastewater treatment systems, solar-powered, high-efficiency lighting and natural gas combined-cycle turbines that will deliver power, heating and cooling. Some of these technologies will be refined based on experience gained in Beijing.
Air quality poses considerable challenges that Beijing authorities are well aware of as they prepare for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. Between August 17 and 20, the Beijing organising committee conducted studies of air quality during test events. During four days of traffic restrictions, 1.3m fewer cars were on city streets. The concentration of nitrogen dioxide in Beijing's air was reduced by an average of 20 per cent. Naturally, fuel consumption also dropped by an equivalent percentage.
Beijing intends to require similar or greater traffic reductions during the games. Weather conditions may vary, however, and there is no guarantee it will have the same beneficial effect on air quality. Some events may need to be delayed if that is the only way to protect athletes. The Beijing Municipal Environment Protection Bureau stated that the test will become a “meaningful reference for long-term environmental protection management”.
The Olympic movement can do more to see such examples applied to other cities. The IOC can expand its knowledge-sharing efforts to include more municipal leaders from around the world, who can attend the games not just to marvel at athletic achievement but also to study and learn from how host cities have improved environmental sustainability. A vast amount of innovation and urban improvement is realised in the seven years it generally takes to organise a games. Much of it will have benefits beyond the 16-day games period. Host cities can be incubators for innovative environmental technologies. They also offer a proving ground to help avoid missteps in other cities that face similar issues.
IOC evaluation commissions will continue to consider carefully the ability of potential host cities to conduct games in a way that is compatible with protecting the environment. The Olympic movement is about more than awarding gold, silver and bronze medals. If we can visualise a permanent place for green on the podium, we will all be winners.
The writer is president of the International Olympic Committee
奥运也要赢“绿色”奖牌
今年的诺贝尔和平奖(Nobel Peace Prize)，颁给了为保护环境做出贡献的人。因此，现在正是考虑体育与环境关系的好时机。如今，体育已经远远超过了运动迷为他们自己喜欢的运动员加油鼓劲的范畴。它不同于任何其它有组织的活动，更多地是一种所谓的“大型活动”。奥运会(Olympic Games)和世界杯足球赛(World Cup)是全球最大的两项体育盛会。再加上全世界每年举行的其它体育赛事，这些活动导致了人口的大规模流动和对资源的巨大需求。它们对环境产生了可以衡量的影响，使组织者承担着重大责任。
美国前副总统阿尔•戈尔(Al Gore)和联合国政府间气候变化委员会(United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change)获得诺贝尔和平奖，这发出了一个强有力的信号，表明可持续环境对于从地区和平到健康经济的所有方面都至关重要。所有国家都是问题和解决方案的一部分。奥运大家庭有205个成员，因此，奥运会提供了一个珍贵的学习与合作论坛。
首次呼吁奥林匹克运动关注环境的声音，出现在1994年挪威利勒哈莫尔冬季奥运会之前，当时，挪威的组委会要求把环境融入体育中，并将文化作为奥林匹克运动的第三个支柱。那一年，国际奥委会(IOC)与联合国环境署(UNEP)签署了一项合作协议，认真考虑奥运会如何降低对环境的影响。一年后，国际奥委会成立了体育与环境委员会(Sport and Environment Commission)，成员中包括联合国环境署派出的代表。
自那以来，国际奥委会日益意识到，奥林匹克运动有责任为候选城市和主办城市提供切实可行解决方案。如今，每届奥运会的组织工作包括近150项标准，用来衡量它们对主办城市的影响——从环境到社会和经济的各个方面。就环境方面而言，组委会要在一段时间内评定多达34个不同的因素，其中包括空气质量、土地使用趋势和温室气体排放。
对2008年北京奥运会而言，在新技术的基础上，先进的能源、照明和水处理解决方案正得以应用。它们包括先进的薄膜过滤污水处理系统、高效的太阳能照明，以及用于供电、供热和制冷的天然气联合循环涡轮机。在北京奥运会期间积累的经验基础上，我们还将对其中一些技术加以改进。
在筹备2008年夏季奥运会的过程中，北京充分意识到了空气质量带来的严峻挑战。8月17日至8月20日，北京组委会在测试赛期间对空气质量进行了研究。在进行交通管制的4天中，北京街道上减少了130万辆机动车。北京空气中二氧化氮的含量平均降低了20%。燃料消耗自然也出现了同比例下降。
北京打算在奥运会期间要求实行类似或者规模更大的交通管制。但天气条件可能会变化，因此，不能保证这些措施对空气质量同样有效。如果没有别的办法的话，为了保护运动员，一些赛事或许就需要推迟。北京市环保局宣称，此次测试为“制定大气污染防治长效措施提供了科学依据”。
奥林匹克运动可以采取更多行动，将这些例子应用到其它城市。国际奥委会能够加大其知识共享努力，将全世界更多城市的领导人纳入其中，他们不仅可以在奥运会上对竞技成就发出惊叹，还可以学习主办城市如何提高环境可持续性。组织一次奥运会一般需要7年时间，大量创新和城市改良可以在这期间完成，其中很大一部分能够在为期16天的赛事期间之后发挥有益作用。主办城市可以成为创新环境技术的孵化器。它们还是一块试验场，能够帮助面临类似问题的其它城市避免错误。
国际奥委会评审委员会将继续认真考虑潜在主办城市以“环保兼容方式”举办奥运会的能力。奥林匹克运动的意义不仅仅是颁发金牌、银牌和铜牌。如果我们能够在领奖台上为绿色勾画出一个永久的位置，我们就都是赢家。（