Leah Cassidy | London, England

London has pledged that the 2012 Olympic Games will be the most sustainable ever. Image: Michael Pead

It was announced four years ago that London would play host to the 2012 Olympic Games.

In a bid to get the Games to England, organisers pledged to host a sporting spectacular as well as to deliver the most sustainable Games to date.

In particular, the London 2012 committee said it would regenerate the area of East London where the Games will be predominately hosted.

But can we have a sustainable Olympics? Or is it simply an oxymoron?

Organisers have pledged a car-free event but with BMW as a main sponsor of the Games, they will be bringing a fleet of around 4,000 vehicles to the country.

Additionally, it is not yet known what the venues, where the Games will held, will be used for after the 2012 Olympics have concluded.

Shaun McCarthy is the chair of the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012, the independent body set up to ensure that the sustainability pledge will be met. He says that the sustainability targets set for the 2012 Olympic Games are on track.

“The ODA [Olympic Delivery Authority] have done a great job of meeting some very challenging targets which is basically reducing the carbon emissions in legacy by 50 per cent and all of the things that should happen: the wind turbine being built on the north side of the park; the plans for some solar power and microwind energy on the park so people can actually see the sustainability of the energy.”

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However, critics claim that the targets are not tough enough.

Business articles by Ethical Corporation magazine have revealed that many of the aims are falling short of existing government energy targets including the plans for the Olympic village to save 25 per cent more energy than the usual household would be meeting this years national target which is two years before the Games are set to start.

Dan Epstein, head of sustainability for ODA says the targets that have been set are challenging.

“50 per cent reduction in carbon, for example, is a huge set forward from where we were… the most important thing about this project is it’s not a project about 2012. It is a project about legacy.

“And so we are setting up the baseline for a development that is going to go on for hundreds of years hopefully. It would be a bit churlish actually, to say that we haven’t set ourselves difficult targets or that we kind of prevented industry from going on and doing more on the site,” he says.

Despite assurances from organisers that targets will be met, McCarthy admits the main pledge of regenerating East London is a concern.

“I am kind of answering the question yes and no. Yes for the guys on the ground, the objectives are extremely tough and I think it is a bit snooty of the Ethical Corporation to say they [targets] are not tough enough,” he says.

“If you take a bigger, longer term, more strategic view of what needs to happen in London to deliver a truly sustainable legacy for the Olympic Park, then no enough has been done now.”

Leah Cassidy is an exchange student from Murdoch University who is currently at City University London, a partner in the Global Environmental Journalism Initiative.