London 2012 Pre-Games Sustainability Report April 2012 Delivering change Contents 1 Introduction 1.1 Statement from the Chair of LOCOG 7 1.2 Statement from the Chief Executive of LOCOG 8 1.3 Statement from the Chair of the London 2012 Sustainability Ambassadors Group 11 1.4 Our vision for a sustainable Games 13 1.5 About London 2012 14 1.6 About the report 16 2 London 2012 sustainability themes 2.1 Introduction 23 2.2 Climate change 23 2.3 Waste 23 2.4 Biodiversity 23 2.5 Inclusion 24 2.6 Healthy living 24 3 Building the stage 3.1 The Olympic Delivery Authority 26 3.2 Carbon 31 3.3 Water 36 3.4 Waste 39 3.5 Materials 41 3.6 Biodiversity 45 Delivering change 3 3.7 Land, water, noise and air 47 3.8 Transport (enabling and construction works) 52 3.9 Sustainability performance of the Olympic and Paralympic Village 53 3.10 Sustainability performance of non-Olympic Park venues 55 3.11 Equality, Inclusion, Employment and Skills 56 3.12 Healthy living – healthy working 65 4 Getting to the Games 4.1 London 2012’s role and responsibility 68 4.2 Public transport Games 69 4.3 London 2012 related transport improvements 74 4.4 Travel management 79 4.5 Walking and cycling 82 4.6 Games Family transport 87 5 Staging the Games 5.1 LOCOG’s role and responsibility 96 5.2 Sustainability management 99 5.3 Low carbon Games 112 5.4 Zero waste Games 132 5.5 Food Vision 144 5.6 Procurement, licensing and sponsorship 154 5.7 Embed sustainability in planning and delivery 173 5.8 Diversity and Inclusion 197 5.9 Employment and skills 205 5.10 Promote sustainable living 214 5.11 Create knowledge legacy 226 Delivering change 4 6 Managing the programme 6.1 Governance structure 230 6.2 Stakeholders and partnerships 233 7 Leaving a legacy 7.1 LOCOG’s legacy contribution 263 7.2 The future of the Olympic Park 270 7.3 London’s legacy 278 7.4 UK legacy 286 8 Assurance and Global Reporting Initiative Index 8.1 Independent assurance statement 294 8.2 Global Reporting Initiative Index 296 Appendices Appendix 1 – Supporting policies, strategies and plans 316 Appendix 2 – Supplemental environmental information 325 Delivering change 5 1.1 1 Introduction Statement from the Chair of LOCOG Looking forward to the Games this year, London 2012 has a unique opportunity to showcase sustainability on an unprecedented scale. This is a unique and precious opportunity to demonstrate our leadership on sustainability. It’s a platform for us to inspire billions around the world, brought together under the banner of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, regardless of nationality or cultures. What we’ve achieved to date proves that we can harness the Olympic spirit and drive sustainability forward with people who wouldn’t otherwise be involved. London 2012’s relentless pursuit of sustainability has been part of every bold and challenging decision we have made, in the development of the Olympic Park and the staging of the Games. This year we’re proud to be the first Olympic and Paralympic Games to be recognised for meeting the sustainable event management standard BS 8901. In 2012 as we wrap up construction, preparation and planning and move into staging the Games, London 2012 is setting new standards. We’re establishing world records right now that will raise sustainability standards and benefit entire industries from construction to event management. Tens of thousands of people have already helped to deliver a more sustainable Games. The coming months will be critical to realising our ambition to host the world’s first truly sustainable Olympic and Paralympic Games. During 2012 we will look to everyone to deliver our vision to use the power of the Games to inspire change and secure a lasting legacy that thrives well beyond the Games. Seb Coe Chair, London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) Seb Coe visits children at Oak Lodge School in Wandsworth to launch a special week of Olympic and Paralympic talks in state schools and colleges, December 2011 Delivering change 7 1.2 Statement from the Chief Executive of LOCOG Staging the Games is a massive and complex undertaking in its own right, let alone trying to do so in a way that meets our ambitious sustainability goals. The past year has seen huge and rapid growth in our organisation, both in terms of direct staff and also in the mass recruitment of volunteer Games Makers. Our partners too, in Government, the Greater London Authority, our commercial sponsors and many others, have been gearing up, and we are increasingly feeling the eyes of the world turning their attention towards London 2012. As any CEO of a large organisation will recognise, remaining true to sustainability principles and commitments across such a challenging and fast-moving landscape is no easy task. We have faced direct scrutiny on many fronts and encountered technical issues across various topics that have required us to make some hard choices. In considering sustainability in its full sense, there is rarely an obvious right answer. What I can say with confidence, however, is that sustainability is firmly part of the mix in the decisions we do make. In many respects we are trying to address sustainability in areas that have not been considered before, especially in the context of major events and their supporting industries. It is therefore important that we share the learnings of what has worked well and what has not been so successful. This Pre-Games Sustainability Report is written with these points in mind. It is a long report simply because there is so much ground to cover – sustainability is a central part of our work as the Organising Committee but it is equally important to all our delivery partners, whose work is also detailed here. We want to convey here the sense of scale at which we are working, the comprehensiveness of the sustainability programme we are implementing, the partnerships involved and the benefits and knowledge all this is bringing. London 2012 programme highlights ‘The most Taking the London 2012 programme as a whole, I would pick six major highlights that demonstrate where we and our partners have been able sustainable to set new standards for sustainability: 1 The Olympic Park: The most sustainable Olympic Stadium ever Olympic built was completed on time and budget and to high sustainability standards. The Park itself is the largest new urban parkland in Europe Stadium ever for 150 years. It is already developing a mature landscape, and the cleaned up and reprofiled river valley is providing both new wildlife built.’ habitat and significant flood alleviation – early examples of lasting legacy benefits. 2 Carbon management: London 2012 is the first summer Olympic and Paralympic Games to measure its carbon footprint over the entire project term. By using the outcomes of the footprinting assessment to inform decision-making, we’ve radically improved our ability to avoid, reduce and substitute carbon emissions associated with delivering the Games. Delivering change 8 3 Sustainable transport: Our commitment to delivering a public transport Games means nine million ticket holders will experience sustainable events like never before from the way they travel. Our Active Travel programme, launched in October 2011, aims to achieve one million extra journeys by walking and cycling in London each day of the Games. 4 Food Vision: London 2012 is the first Games to specify stringent sustainability requirements for its catering operations. All our caterers are signed up to the Food Vision standards and are ready to serve 14 million sustainably sourced meals. Meanwhile, the excellent work of the Food Legacy Group is extending the Food Vision approach to other sectors and organisations beyond the Games. 5 Waste: Our commitment to delivering a zero waste to landfill Games is another first for the Games and has required detailed planning, as set out in our recently published Zero Waste Games Vision. The work of the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) on the Olympic Park construction has set a very high bar, achieving 98.5 per cent and 99 per cent rates of re-use and recycling of materials in demolition and construction respectively. 6 Standards: In 2011 LOCOG became the first Organising Committee to be certified to the British Standard 8901: Specification for a Sustainability Management Systems for Events. The standard was inspired by the London 2012 bid and is proof of how deeply sustainability has been embedded into our organisation. Achieving the standard enhances our ability to deliver sustainability across all the areas that matter to stakeholders. Facing up to challenges Underpinning most of these achievements has been a rigorous approach to procurement, exemplified through the application of our innovative Sustainable Sourcing Code. Inevitably, given the range and number of contracts we have to put in place, it is impractical to expect to be able to assure standards across the entirety of our extended supply chain. This is why we introduced our own Complaints and Dispute Resolution Mechanism as a complement to the sourcing code. In early 2012 we have had to invoke the mechanism following allegations about poor working conditions at three overseas factories manufacturing London 2012 merchandise. While our independent investigations have been taking place, we have established a ground-breaking agreement with the Trades Union Congress and the Playfair 2012 Campaign that will deliver a package of measures in partnership with some of our Licensees and their manufacturing sites to introduce fairer working conditions. This will create a valuable learning legacy for future Games. In the summer of 2011 we embarked on a series of 42 test events delivered across 26 venues in London as part of our ‘London Prepares’ series.