Campaign history

In 1993, a set of Environmental Guidelines for the Olympic Games was developed by Greenpeace and passed into law by the NSW government. We played a vital watchdog role for the next seven years.

Athletes speak out

Many top athletes supported our vision for a Green Games, and even members of the Olympic movement resolved to 'Let the Games be Green'.

Greenpeace was there to make sure the plans for the first truly Green Games became a reality. By releasing an Olympic Report every 100 days from 1995 to 2000, we kept environmental issues firmly on the agenda.

Our non-violent direct actions increased public awareness and pressured decision makers and stakeholders to reduce the Games' environmental impact.

We fought against the use of PVC and ozone depleting chemicals, as well as rare native forest timber, in Olympic venues. The government's failure to clean up the Homebush Bay area, near the Olympic site, prompted Greenpeace activists to don protective gear and repack barrels of highly toxic dioxin-contaminated waste themselves.

Coke Challenge

One of our major victories was the Coke Challenge campaign, which saw Olympic sponsor Coca-Cola meet our demands for a new refrigeration policy to reduce its impact on global climate change.

Must try harder!

Our in-depth investigation, How Green the Games, compared Sydney's big promises to environmental best practice. In the end, Greenpeace presented Sydney 2000 with a Bronze Medal after the Green Games scored a 'C' (just 6 out of 10) on its final Report Card. 

Read about the Sydney Olympics environmental wins and losses