Archived press release

Olympic Bid: Only a Green Bid Will Win

15 May 2003

Friends of the Earth today called for the London Olympics to be the `eco-Olympics'. Friends of the Earth will be assessing the London bid against a set of environmental standards and publishing the results. The assessment will cover the three main stages: how the games are planned; operations during the fortnight of sport; and, the legacy left to Londoners.

Paul de Zylva, Campaigns Coordinator of Friends of the Earth London said:

"The London games must be the eco-Olympics. It will be judged by more than just two weeks of sport. Too often big events like this are used to force through dodgy schemes like roads and airports and land deals that cut out the community. The London bid must not be a cover for damaging development. The 2000 Sydney games claimed to be `the greenest games ever'. But the London games could top that with even higher standards in energy and waste, transport and buildings and a decent legacy for us all."

Friends of the Earth will assess the London bid to see how it performs against key targets. These are likely to include:

Before the games:

• Land use: use land efficiently in ways that meet different people's needs especially after the games, and not simply deliver cheap land for speculative property development;

• Building construction and operation: set high standards for the construction and operation of stadia and buildings, use environmentally responsible materials and energy efficient design and construction;

• Damaging development: avoid building damaging roads, airports and speculative office development and reduce the need to travel by locating sites close to decent, accessible public transport;

During the games:

• Green merchandising: require contractors to adopt minimum `green procurement' standards for merchandising, catering, transport, waste, construction;

• Sponsorship: Friends of the Earth will assess all sponsors of the games to check how corporate statements and PR compares with companies' actual behaviour and practices;

After the games:

• Legacy: the bid must show how it leaves facilities financially viable for continued community use.

If you're a journalist looking for press information please contact the Friends of the Earth media team on 020 7566 1649.

Published by Friends of the Earth Trust