Green credentials of Olympic Games

As sportsmen and women from around the world gear up to compete in this year's Winter Olympics in Torino, behind the scenes environmentalists are applauding the green credentials of the Games.

Just as years of training will pay off for the more than 2,500 athletes from 85 different nations competing in 15 different disciplines, the Games will be the culmination of an extensive environmental programme aimed at making the event environmentally friendly and sustainable in ways that will benefit the entire region for years to come.

A high-level delegation from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) will be in Torino for the Winter Olympics. Led by Klaus Toepfer, UNEP's Executive Director, they are coming to see at first-hand how the games are delivering high environmental standards for athletes, spectators, the region, and the wider world.

Mr. Toepfer said: "Our long-standing productive relationship with the Torino Organizing Committee will come to fruition when the 'greenest Games ever' open in Torino. I am particularly pleased that our positive assessment of the work of the organizers in the field of environmental sustainability has also been confirmed by our friends at the WWF."

“UNEP has always strongly asserted the important role civil society organizations have to play in promoting and monitoring environmental sustainability,” Mr Toepfer added.

During the Games, the UNEP delegation will participate in a number of planned activities including a 'green dinner' focusing on climate change, on the evening of 15 February, to celebrate the first anniversary of the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol on 16 February.

Ensuring a climate-friendly Games is one of the cornerstones of the preparations put in place by the Torino Organizing Committee for the 2006 Olympic Winter Games (TOROC).

The HEritage Climate TORino (HECTOR) project is designed to make the Winter Games carbon neutral. By supporting forestry, energy efficiency and renewable energy schemes both at home and abroad, the Torino Olympics will be able to offset the estimated 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide that will be generated during the 16 days of the Games.

Key environmental aspects of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino:

• TOROC has issued two Sustainability Reports: one in 2003, the second in 2005. They were hailed as milestones in the quest to make mass spectator events both entertaining and environmentally sound.
• TOROC also voluntarily developed a comprehensive Environmental Management System to integrate the principles of sustainability in the staging of the Games. The system conforms to the ISO 14001 and the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) regulation of the European Union.
• An extensive monitoring plan was developed for the entire Olympic area which includes sixteen environmental indicators, including water cycle, air quality, soil use, energy consumption, waste production, ecosystems, landscape, and urban environment.
• Suppliers of goods and services involved in the Games are also considered and selected based on the ecological quality of their products. In line with the European Eco-label for hotel services, TOROC is promoting an eco-label trademark to touristic sites and hotels in the Olympic areas and is providing technical support necessary to obtain certification.

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