2008 Plus! Greening Beijing for the Olympic Games and Beyond

Topping the list of China’s environmental woes is global warming, closely followed by the exacerbation of water deficiency due to pollution, and concerns over food safety and land erosion.

However, the Beijing Olympics has the potential to be a turning point in China’s sustainable development. Greenpeace hopes that environmentally-sound development strategies learnt during the preparation for the Beijing Olympics will be applied by China throughout the country and practiced well beyond the year 2008.

Greenpeace and BOCOG

The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games (BOCOG) was established soon after Beijing won the bid to host the 2008 Olympics. It is the committee’s responsibility to ensure that China’s bidding commitments are met, including promised environmental measures. 

Greenpeace has been in regular dialogue with the Construction and Environment Department of BOCOG since 2006. We advise the committee on issues related to our campaigns, such as the use of renewable energy, sustainable timber and food safety. We played a key role in organising events to bring together BOCOG committee members and representatives from various NGOs to speak with Chinese and international media. Greenpeace was one of the NGOs to advise the early draft of the Beijing 2008: Environmental Protection, Innovation and Improvement, released by BOCOG in October 2007.

While Greenpeace regularly engages with BOCOG, the committee’s reaction to our recommendations is often mixed. On issues such as the use of renewable energy and sustainable timber, BOCOG was not able to take up Greenpeace’s recommendations because major construction was either contracted or already under way. The environmental performance of the Beijing Olympics would have benefited if BOCOG had involved non-governmental groups in earlier stages of its work.

Greenpeace and UNEP

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has been cooperating with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to include environmental issues in the Olympic Games since 1994. In November 2005, UNEP signed a Memorandum of Understanding with BOCOG, and has been helping BOCOG to implement environmental plans for the Beijing Olympics and liaise communications with environmental NGOs.

Greenpeace has been in discussion with UNEP on issues related to the Beijing Olympics. We were consulted by UNEP when it formulated and drafted the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games – An Environmental Review, which was released in October 2007. Greenpeace’s comments on the Beijing Olympics were included in the report.

Greenpeace and sponsors of the Beijing Olympics

Sponsors of the Beijing Olympics are corporate leaders in their respective industries. Greenpeace believes that they have a vital responsibility to help green the Beijing Olympics. Positive environmental initiatives from corporate sponsors can also have an enormous impact in greening the industries in the long term.

Greenpeace is urging sponsors of the Beijing Olympics to utilize the best environmentally-friendly technology available and to continue their commitment to the environment beyond the Beijing Olympics. For example, we pushed Coca-Cola to provide climate-friendly coolers and vending machines in all official venues in Beijing and six other co-host cities. This is the first time that 100% of all Coca-Cola coolers and vending machines for the Olympics will feature hydrofluorocarbon-free (HFC-free) insulation and natural refrigerant plus energy-saving technology.

May 27, 2008, CEO and Chairman of The Coca Cola company, E. Neville Isdell, committed to increase the number of climate-friendly refrigerants to 100,000 worldwide in the 3 years to come.

Greenpeace and the Chinese public

The Chinese public is increasingly concerned of the environmental problems China is facing. The Beijing Olympics, given the public enthusiasm it creates, offers a great opportunity to engage the Chinese public to make China greener.

Greenpeace has launched projects to raise public awareness and promote an environmentally-friendly lifestyle. Since October 2007 we have successfully lobbied over 300 restaurants in Beijing to switch to non-disposable chopsticks. Over 10,000 citizens have answered our call and said “no” to disposable chopsticks. We are also working to persuade Beijing residents to shift to energy-saving fluorescent light bulbs. We believe that everyone can help to make the Olympics and China greener even after 2008.