The Olympic Delivery Authority has failed to deliver on two of its key promises to make the London 2012 Olympic Games as green and sustainable as possible and has had to buy its way to meet one of its green targets.
Green street: London 2012 is not on course to meet some of the promises made about sustainability Photo: EPAO
The ODA has paid more than £1 million as an offset payment to achieve one of its major promises - delivering a 50 per cent cut in carbon footprint. The money, which will go to the mayor of London's Renew scheme will help pay for low energy lighting and insulation in local schools and housing.
Without this payment, the Olympic bosses will have only achieved around a 40 percent carbon reduction. But the biggest failure has been in the levels of renewable energy on Olympic Park. For years the ODA has promised it would use 20 percent renewable energy on Olympic Park, a target that was clearly dashed when a 120m two megawatt wind turbine that was to power 1000 homes was scrapped last year.
Yesterday the watchdog Commission for Sustainable London revealed the ODA will use just nine percent of renewable energy - and that figure was boosted from a lower number after a decision to install solar panels on the media and broadcast centres.
This has been economically viable from subsidies from government tariffs. However the ability to use other renewable energy was restricted by existing contracts.
"Biomass boilers will be used as part of the energy centre but other renewable heat sources were not able to be used due to the energy centre contract requiring the owners to have exclusive rights to heat the Olympic Park, the commission chair Shaun McCarthy said.
"It is regrettable that onsite renewable solutions could not be found.
"However, we believe (contributing to the Renew scheme) is an acceptable alternative solution in that it provides genuine additional carbon reductions and helps to address other social issues such as fuel poverty."
McCarthy said the ODA and Locog currently scored around eight out of 10 in delivering other sustainable solutions. He praised the velodrome construction but noted the aquatic centre was significantly less carbon efficient.
"With hindsight, some key early decisions and actions could have enabled even higher standards," he said. "Whilst there is still much to do, we are currently confident that London 2012 is on track to deliver unprecedented levels of sustainability."
McCarthy said the Commission was keeping a close eye on the commitment to maintain 45 hectacres of biodiverse habitat on the Park, especially following on from changes post-Games to keep the Olympic Stadium as a much larger structure than originally intended.
"However, we believe (contributing to the Renew scheme) is an acceptable alternative solution in that it provides genuine additional carbon reductions and helps to address other social issues such as fuel poverty."
McCarthy said the ODA and Locog currently scored around eight out of 10 in delivering other sustainable solutions. He praised the velodrome construction but noted the aquatic centre was significantly less carbon efficient.
"With hindsight, some key early decisions and actions could have enabled even higher standards," he said. "Whilst there is still much to do, we are currently confident that London 2012 is on track to deliver unprecedented levels of sustainability."
McCarthy said the Commission was keeping a close eye on the commitment to maintain 45 hectacres of biodiverse habitat on the Park, especially following on from changes post-Games to keep the Olympic Stadium as a much larger structure than originally intended.
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