The Paralympic Games will take place over 12 days in late August and early September 2012. LOCOG report that during this period 4,200 athletes from 150 nations will compete in 20 different Paralympic sports.

Channel 4, the official UK Paralympic broadcaster, has started its programming around the Paralympic Games. Channel 4 has a website to support the build-up and coverage which is available here.

The British Paralympic team, ParalympicsGB, are working with EDF, a London 2012 Sustainability Partner, to reduce the environmental impact of their 2012 training camp in Bath.

The volunteering day was organised by the London Wildlife Trust, who have been working to transform the Greenway before the Games. You can find out more information about their work here.

Although interrupted by a downpour and thunderstorm, the day was spent building and putting up bird and bat boxes, litter picking, building loggeries, (for beetles) and insect hotels. Amongst the wildlife we came across a slow worm – pictured here.

Various presentations took place during the day to start to illustrate the potential of this water city region. One of the most compelling was by Councillor Paul Brickell who neatly linked past and present by telling the audience that his great-grandfather had drowned in the Thames before setting out his perspective on the huge potential of the area for regeneration.

The best stories however were from the rivers themselves. We travelled very slowly from Old Ford to Limehouse and very quickly from Limehouse to Canary Wharf. The trip from Old Ford gave a unique perspective to the Olympic Park, taking in the Forman and Field salmon smokery, a 100 year old business that was on the Olympic Park site, relocated just over the canal and now boasting an art gallery and swanky restaurant. They have purchased a plot of land next door to provide canal side corporate hospitality a few metres from the boundary of the park with a stunning view over the stadium. Smart move! Another example entrepreneurial endeavour can be seen a few metres along the waterway; a rickety shed with a hand painted sign proclaiming “Olympic cycle hire”. It is clear that the IOC’s lawyers have never travelled this route. The navigation is very mixed, with some interesting developments but many parts of the journey were flanked with derelict buildings and graffiti strewn walls. The responsibility for removing graffiti lies with whoever owns the wall, making it very difficult to control alongside a waterway. We passed a barge with a collection of stuff dredged from the canal, a collection of supermarket trolleys, bikes, a refrigerator and even a motorbike. Maintaining our waterways is a never-ending job. The journey emerges into Limehouse Basin, with lots of expensive looking flats in an orgy of “waterfront living” but not very much infrastructure and not much evidence of mix of uses. The basin contains some very rare residential moorings, providing some character and animation to the waterway. During the Games, and hopefully afterwards, water taxis will ferry people on this route. A lot of work needs to be done to make the journey more pleasant but the potential for a charming and unhurried journey to and from the Park is there to be seen.

A white knuckle ride in a fast RIB around the Isle of Dogs to Canary Wharf took about 10 minutes (the Docklands Light Railway is probably just as quick but not as much fun). Entering Canary Wharf through a lock the same size as those on the Panama Canal gives a very different perspective to this place. Emerging from the tube it looks like a characterless collection of tall buildings. Enter by water and it is an inland port, capable of hosting super-yachts, naval and large commercial vessels, with the buildings providing a stunning backdrop to the water. These waterways need animating to enrich this area culturally in the same way as it has been enriched financially by the banks that seem to continue to thrive there despite the credit crunch.

Waterways are part of East London’s heritage and need to be part of its future as a sustainable place to live, work and play.

It seems to me that this global corporation totally understands the relationship between the success of their business, their relationship with stakeholders and the sustainable development agenda. However, the key to this success is their willingness to listen and properly engage with their client base. They have worked out that sustainable urban infrastructure has an important role to play for their business and they want to understand the context of sustainability for the world’s great cities, starting with London. They learned a lot, heard speeches from Boris Johnson (and Ken Livingstone), visited the Olympic Park and facilitated discussions with a very wide range of stakeholders, including the Carbon Trust, Forum for the Future and London focused organisations. All this will influence the objectives they set and the way in which they expect their supply chain to behave. There are eight people in Siemens’ management board and one of them has responsibility for CSR and supply chain globally; an indication of how well Siemens recognise the importance of supply chains in delivering the sustainable future of the business.

In the evening I was invited to a very swanky dinner at the top of the Gherkin building in the City of London. Looking west you can look down at the dome of St Paul’s standing proud among the skyscrapers of the City. I was tempted to mention the war, but I didn’t!

Shaun McCarthy

July 2010

Previously published by Supply Management magazine

Since 2005, the Commission has seen many ‘firsts’ from London 2012: the carbon footprinting of the Games, the Food Vision, the existence of the Commission itself and much impressive work all helping London 2012 fulfil its aim to be the ‘most sustainable Games of modern times’.

Ambitious targets such as ‘zero-waste to landfill at Games-time’ are on track to be achieved. The picture to date has been overwhelmingly positive. However over the next two years, risks around delivering the sustainability targets will increase as budget and time constraints become tighter. The Commission will continue to monitor progress closely.

Hosting an Olympic Games is an inherently unsustainable thing to do. To mitigate this, the net amount of benefit to the environment or society of staging the Games needs to be greater than the damage done. The learning and knowledge from the London 2012 programme must be captured, disseminated to the public and private sectors and applied to all major projects going forward.

You can read more about the ‘Two Years to Go’ celebrations on the London 2012 website.

You can also listen to an interview with Shaun McCarthy, Chair of the Commission, on BBC 5 Live. Shaun McCarthy on BBC Five Live (The interview is at 36 minutes 15 seconds into the programme)

The Environment Committee are undertaking a report into the environmental sustainability of the staging of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. As part of the Assembly’s investigation, Shaun McCarthy, along with staff from LOCOG, the ODA, the GLA and Coca Cola were invited to attend a meeting of the Committee.

During the meeting members of the Environment Committee posed questions around the sustainability of the staging of the Games. Questions covered the areas of transport, waste, food, air quality and merchandise at the Games.

A webcast of the session can be viewed here

Select Environment Committee – 15^th July 2010

As part of the feature Shaun, as Chair of the Commission, was asked to comment on the energy use of the course. A system of pumps will provide the course with 15 cubic metres of water per second. The Commission is of the view that post-Games the energy powering the courses should come from renewable sources.

You can view the Sky News story here

After the Games the centre will be a canoe and kayak venue for both members of the public and elite athletes and will feature white water rafting. It will be owned and managed by the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority.

The Commission has planned a series of meetings over the summer to discuss the findings from the recently published Annual Review, to discuss emerging issues and to help shape priorities for 2010-2011.  

Wednesday 14^th July,  9.30 – 10:30am, Palestra, 197 Blackfriars Road, London, SE1 8AA

Tuesday 24^th August, 9.30 – 10:30am, Palestra, 197 Blackfriars Road, London, SE1 8AA

Tuesday 7^th September, 9.30 – 10:30am, Palestra, 197 Blackfriars Road, London, SE1 8AA

If you would like to attend a session or would like further information please contact Deborah Morrison: or 0207 593 8664

BP has confirmed that the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will not affect the company’s commitments to London 2012. BP will be sponsoring the London 2012 Open Weekend in mid-July.  

Regarding BP’s role as a Sustainability Partner, the Commission expects BP to continue their commitment to the London 2012 sustainability objectives which will help to deliver a sustainable Games and a sustainable future for East London.  

The Commission joins many other stakeholders in expecting to see BP continue to take every effort to speedily resolve the situation in the Gulf of Mexico and to direct their resources towards mitigating the negative impacts on environmental, economic and social sustainability which have occurred.  

While the Commission has provided LOCOG with details of issues to consider in the choice of commercial partners when asked to in our role as a critical friend, we have no involvement in the choice of London 2012’s commercial partners.

The Commission for a Sustainable London 2012 has today published its snapshot review of sustainability and transport for the Games.

The review, entitled ‘All Change’ is a snapshot review. It provides an overview of transport and sustainability across the London 2012 programme.  For the London 2012 transport teams, much of the detailed planning and delivery is still ongoing or lies ahead. For this reason, the Commission has provided an overview report and will continue to monitor progress closely.

The Commission welcomes the work of the London 2012 Transport teams. The focus on inclusive public transport for spectators, on minimising carbon emissions from the Olympic fleet and on active travel for all, is impressive. Travel demand management at Games-time must be closely managed to minimise negative impacts, including on air quality.

The Commission has been particularly impressed with BMW’s commitment to a fleet average of 120gm CO2/km for the Olympic fleet. This is ahead of EU targets and way ahead of current emissions standards.

The Commission has also welcomed the London 2012’s focus on holding a ‘public transport games’, accessible to all. While public transport will be free for ticketholders in London, the Commission strongly considers that public transport from elsewhere to the Games must be affordable and encourages London 2012 work with others to ensure this happens.

The plans to encourage spectators to walk or cycle all or part of the way to the 2012 venues are being linked in to wider programmes to increase the number of people walking and cycling. However both the Accessible travel and Active travel programmes will require resources to continue to be committed to work effectively in 2012.

During Games-time, travel demand in and around London will need to be carefully managed to minimise any negative effects on air quality. Whilst the Olympic Park will be a low emissions zone, the effect of idling traffic around the city will need to be closely monitored and action taken to minimise impacts on air quality.

The Commission will continue to monitor the London 2012 transport teams sustainability plans and will report any concerns publicly on its website and via its reporting.