Or is there more to it than meets the eye?
At Bonnet, you’ve probably guessed that we love to celebrate renewable energy in all its forms and uses, so we were delighted to hear that the Beijing Winter Olympics - that’s the one on your tele right now - is 100% green. But, as we started to dig a little deeper, we had the sinking feeling that it might not be quite as green as it seems.
China is heralding the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 as the first ‘green’ Olympic games, in what is a huge step forward for renewable energy. After all, if you can run an event of this size entirely on renewables, then there are surely no limits to what can be achieved.
All 26 of the games’ venues are to be run on 100% renewable electricity. To do that, a pioneering Zhangjiakou Green Electric Grid has been built to deliver power from the Zhangjiakou mountain city, where the skiing events are being held, to neighbouring Beijing.
Zhangjiakou’s pilot renewable power grid has an energy capacity that exceeds many countries in the world. It’s a scale model of the larger plan that the Chinese government is rolling out nationwide. Once that’s fully operational, the forecast is for China’s carbon dioxide emissions to peak by 2030 and for it to be carbon neutral by 2060.
The State Grid Beijing Electric Power Company has also built an enormous centralised electric vehicle charging station in the underground car park of the Wukesong Sports Center, which is one of six stadiums hosting the events in Beijing.
The 80 60kW and 120 7kW chargers will be able to charge up to 1,300 electric vehicles per day, providing the kind of EV charging convenience that British EV drivers dream of. There are also another 1,187 new chargers in areas around the other Olympic venues.
Within the Olympic bubble itself, athletes will be transported by more than 1,000 hydrogen-powered buses, while any non-renewable energy use will be offset by reforestation. That all sounds incredible so far, so what’s the kicker?
The main problem with the Olympic games is that there’s no independent monitoring of sustainability goals. As an example, Sochi 2014, described by Russia as the cleanest Olympics ever, caused severe damage to a major mountain stream and saw the illegal dumping of toxic construction waste. Four years later in 2018, the PyeongChang games obtained global certification for sustainable events, yet a forest of rare trees was cut down to create a ski run.
Is Beijing any different? Well, without any independent assessment, fact checking or robust third-party monitoring, it’s very difficult to tell. However, when China’s claims of a completely green games are set against the country’s border environmental challenges, they are difficult to square.
China is the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter, with Beijing and the surrounding Hebei province still heavily reliant on fossil fuels for their electricity. China also consumes half of the world’s coal, with output having risen by 5% last year. There’s also a water scarcity problem in Beijing, with its population reliant on water extracted from underground and brought in from wetter regions through a vast network of pipes and canals.
At the games itself, early plans for the snow sport venues had to be redrawn after the proposed routes cut through a protected forest. Even after changes were made, 20,000 trees were still removed and transplanted to a new forest park.
Given the province’s usually barren hillsides, there’s also an almost total reliance on artificial snow. Although Beijing promises that the snow production is environmentally friendly, it has not been disclosed how it will produce huge amounts of artificial snow without depleting the already fragile water supplies.
Although China promises that almost every aspect of the games is green and that it’s carbon neutral overall, without any third-party assessment, it’s impossible to know for sure. However, let’s try not to cast too much of a shadow on the whole thing. Sustainability has only been a pillar of the Olympics since 1990, and the fact that it is a focus at all in Beijing means that at least some progress is being made.
The next step, we think, is for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to introduce independent monitoring of sustainability to verify the host’s claims, with appropriate sanctions for non-compliance. Then we can celebrate what will truly be an Olympic-sized leap in our sustainability goals.
*Photo Credit - Rob Schumacher USA TODAY
Or is there more to it than meets the eye?
At Bonnet, you’ve probably guessed that we love to celebrate renewable energy in all its forms and uses, so we were delighted to hear that the Beijing Winter Olympics - that’s the one on your tele right now - is 100% green. But, as we started to dig a little deeper, we had the sinking feeling that it might not be quite as green as it seems.
China is heralding the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 as the first ‘green’ Olympic games, in what is a huge step forward for renewable energy. After all, if you can run an event of this size entirely on renewables, then there are surely no limits to what can be achieved.
All 26 of the games’ venues are to be run on 100% renewable electricity. To do that, a pioneering Zhangjiakou Green Electric Grid has been built to deliver power from the Zhangjiakou mountain city, where the skiing events are being held, to neighbouring Beijing.
Zhangjiakou’s pilot renewable power grid has an energy capacity that exceeds many countries in the world. It’s a scale model of the larger plan that the Chinese government is rolling out nationwide. Once that’s fully operational, the forecast is for China’s carbon dioxide emissions to peak by 2030 and for it to be carbon neutral by 2060.
The State Grid Beijing Electric Power Company has also built an enormous centralised electric vehicle charging station in the underground car park of the Wukesong Sports Center, which is one of six stadiums hosting the events in Beijing.
The 80 60kW and 120 7kW chargers will be able to charge up to 1,300 electric vehicles per day, providing the kind of EV charging convenience that British EV drivers dream of. There are also another 1,187 new chargers in areas around the other Olympic venues.
Within the Olympic bubble itself, athletes will be transported by more than 1,000 hydrogen-powered buses, while any non-renewable energy use will be offset by reforestation. That all sounds incredible so far, so what’s the kicker?
The main problem with the Olympic games is that there’s no independent monitoring of sustainability goals. As an example, Sochi 2014, described by Russia as the cleanest Olympics ever, caused severe damage to a major mountain stream and saw the illegal dumping of toxic construction waste. Four years later in 2018, the PyeongChang games obtained global certification for sustainable events, yet a forest of rare trees was cut down to create a ski run.
Is Beijing any different? Well, without any independent assessment, fact checking or robust third-party monitoring, it’s very difficult to tell. However, when China’s claims of a completely green games are set against the country’s border environmental challenges, they are difficult to square.
China is the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter, with Beijing and the surrounding Hebei province still heavily reliant on fossil fuels for their electricity. China also consumes half of the world’s coal, with output having risen by 5% last year. There’s also a water scarcity problem in Beijing, with its population reliant on water extracted from underground and brought in from wetter regions through a vast network of pipes and canals.
At the games itself, early plans for the snow sport venues had to be redrawn after the proposed routes cut through a protected forest. Even after changes were made, 20,000 trees were still removed and transplanted to a new forest park.
Given the province’s usually barren hillsides, there’s also an almost total reliance on artificial snow. Although Beijing promises that the snow production is environmentally friendly, it has not been disclosed how it will produce huge amounts of artificial snow without depleting the already fragile water supplies.
Although China promises that almost every aspect of the games is green and that it’s carbon neutral overall, without any third-party assessment, it’s impossible to know for sure. However, let’s try not to cast too much of a shadow on the whole thing. Sustainability has only been a pillar of the Olympics since 1990, and the fact that it is a focus at all in Beijing means that at least some progress is being made.
The next step, we think, is for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to introduce independent monitoring of sustainability to verify the host’s claims, with appropriate sanctions for non-compliance. Then we can celebrate what will truly be an Olympic-sized leap in our sustainability goals.
*Photo Credit - Rob Schumacher USA TODAY
Or is there more to it than meets the eye?
At Bonnet, you’ve probably guessed that we love to celebrate renewable energy in all its forms and uses, so we were delighted to hear that the Beijing Winter Olympics - that’s the one on your tele right now - is 100% green. But, as we started to dig a little deeper, we had the sinking feeling that it might not be quite as green as it seems.
China is heralding the Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 as the first ‘green’ Olympic games, in what is a huge step forward for renewable energy. After all, if you can run an event of this size entirely on renewables, then there are surely no limits to what can be achieved.
All 26 of the games’ venues are to be run on 100% renewable electricity. To do that, a pioneering Zhangjiakou Green Electric Grid has been built to deliver power from the Zhangjiakou mountain city, where the skiing events are being held, to neighbouring Beijing.
Zhangjiakou’s pilot renewable power grid has an energy capacity that exceeds many countries in the world. It’s a scale model of the larger plan that the Chinese government is rolling out nationwide. Once that’s fully operational, the forecast is for China’s carbon dioxide emissions to peak by 2030 and for it to be carbon neutral by 2060.
The State Grid Beijing Electric Power Company has also built an enormous centralised electric vehicle charging station in the underground car park of the Wukesong Sports Center, which is one of six stadiums hosting the events in Beijing.
The 80 60kW and 120 7kW chargers will be able to charge up to 1,300 electric vehicles per day, providing the kind of EV charging convenience that British EV drivers dream of. There are also another 1,187 new chargers in areas around the other Olympic venues.
Within the Olympic bubble itself, athletes will be transported by more than 1,000 hydrogen-powered buses, while any non-renewable energy use will be offset by reforestation. That all sounds incredible so far, so what’s the kicker?
The main problem with the Olympic games is that there’s no independent monitoring of sustainability goals. As an example, Sochi 2014, described by Russia as the cleanest Olympics ever, caused severe damage to a major mountain stream and saw the illegal dumping of toxic construction waste. Four years later in 2018, the PyeongChang games obtained global certification for sustainable events, yet a forest of rare trees was cut down to create a ski run.
Is Beijing any different? Well, without any independent assessment, fact checking or robust third-party monitoring, it’s very difficult to tell. However, when China’s claims of a completely green games are set against the country’s border environmental challenges, they are difficult to square.
China is the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter, with Beijing and the surrounding Hebei province still heavily reliant on fossil fuels for their electricity. China also consumes half of the world’s coal, with output having risen by 5% last year. There’s also a water scarcity problem in Beijing, with its population reliant on water extracted from underground and brought in from wetter regions through a vast network of pipes and canals.
At the games itself, early plans for the snow sport venues had to be redrawn after the proposed routes cut through a protected forest. Even after changes were made, 20,000 trees were still removed and transplanted to a new forest park.
Given the province’s usually barren hillsides, there’s also an almost total reliance on artificial snow. Although Beijing promises that the snow production is environmentally friendly, it has not been disclosed how it will produce huge amounts of artificial snow without depleting the already fragile water supplies.
Although China promises that almost every aspect of the games is green and that it’s carbon neutral overall, without any third-party assessment, it’s impossible to know for sure. However, let’s try not to cast too much of a shadow on the whole thing. Sustainability has only been a pillar of the Olympics since 1990, and the fact that it is a focus at all in Beijing means that at least some progress is being made.
The next step, we think, is for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to introduce independent monitoring of sustainability to verify the host’s claims, with appropriate sanctions for non-compliance. Then we can celebrate what will truly be an Olympic-sized leap in our sustainability goals.
*Photo Credit - Rob Schumacher USA TODAY
