pyeongchang Winter Olympics achieves sustainability
The 23rd Winter Olympic games in PyeongChang is being talked about as an event that could have been one of the most sustainable competitions in the tournament’s history.
The games, which took place in South Korea, had sustainable thinking at its heart with a number of actions taken that echoed the incredible efforts of Vancouver 2010's Games.
Not only has it procured 190 megawatts of wind power to meet more than 100 per cent of its energy needs, but all six stadiums have been awarded with ‘green-building’ certifications. Organisers have ensured that a forest area twice the size of the event has been restored, and the Olympic Park has been built on the site of an old landfill, covering 86,696 square meters.
Speaking at a forum this week, International Olympic Committee member Mario Pescante said this year’s games shares the objective of furthering “the peaceful development of humanity”
“Over and beyond the Games themselves, we believe that sport and the sports sector at large are a natural partner when it comes to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The IOC is committed to continued cooperation with the United Nations and its Member States to make the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) a reality, and we are pleased that our efforts are strengthened by several cooperation agreements that have materialised through joint actions at policy level and on the field of play.”
To this end, this year’s Winter Olympics has been carefully constructed in line with both the SDGs and the Olympic Agenda. The latter comprises of 18 objectives to be achieved by 2020 across five focus areas: infrastructure and natural sites, sourcing and resource management, mobility, workforce and climate.
Find out more about how this year's Olympic Games are engaging with the Sustainable Development Goals, as senior delegates and advocates in the sector visited a primary school in the Gangwon Province to show how sport can intersect these important ideals:
beyondsport.org/articles/primary-school-students-kick-unsdgs-into-action-during-winter-olympics/