UN: Green Olympics a lasting legacy

By Wang Zhuoqiong (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-02-20 10:17

China fulfilled many of its pre-Olympics commitments to improve the quality of air in Beijing and make the city greener, a United Nation's report released Thursday said.

In some cases, authorities had surpassed their targets before the 2008 Olympics and the Games would leave a lasting environmental legacy, said the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) report released in Kenya at the UNEP Governing Council meeting.

The organizers made major efforts to ensure that the Games marked a step forward in terms of an eco-friendly, mass spectator-event, it said.

"The entire world was looking, wondering if the Chinese authorities could pull off a landmark event such as the Olympics, keeping the environment in mind," said Achim Steiner, UN under-secretary-general and UNEP executive director, who attended the Games.

"They have fulfilled the promise they made of hosting a green event. They came out with flying colors with efficient public transport, waste treatment and green venues."

However, the report said that more could have been done to engage NGOs and reducing the Olympic and Paralympic Games' "carbon footprint".

But overall "Beijing raised the environmental bar and the Games left a lasting legacy", it concluded.

The assessment of the city's achievements and challenges provides key recommendations for the organizers of the Games in Vancouver, London and Sochi, as well as other mass sporting events.

It is estimated that China invested more than $17 billion on environmental projects for the Games.

The plan was laid out in a series of 20 key environmental commitments ranging from improving the city's transport infrastructure to the upgrading the waste system and increasing the city's green coverage.