Vancouver: Environmental Hero or Gold-Medal Green-Washer?

There are three official pillars of the international olympic movement: sport, culture and sustainability. That last one might have surprised you.

Explaining those pillars, Vancouver's official Olympic website says that one of its goals is "raising awareness of environmental problems." The Vancouver Olympic Committee has made a point of raising awareness about environmental problems and implementing green practices. But does VANOC's environmental cred stop with awareness? Sort of, says a report released last week by a Canadian environmental group.

The David Suzuki Foundation's Climate Scorecard found that if an environmental competition in sustainability were held today, Vancouver would go home with a Bronze medal.

The scorecard, which credits VANOC for using green design standards for new buildings and relying on clean energy sources, said that the committee has not implemented an adequate program to offset carbon emitted by spectators. The Foundation also wrote that hosting the games provides a platform to inspire millions to act on climate change, but VANOC has "had the least success" with public engagement.

After pointing out these flaws, the Foundation was careful to praise some of VANOC's environmental initiatives, which have surpassed most previous Olympic hosts. "Despite some missed opportunities," said Paul Lingl of the David Suzuki Foundation, "the positive steps taken by the 2010 Olympics demonstrate the climate solutions are doable, affordable and can have a lasting legacy."

But now that the International Olympic Committee chooses a host based on large part to each city's dedication to sustainability, some critics say that Vancouver should fare much better than bronze. Beijing bested Mexico City to host the 2008 Summer Olympics largely because its pollution standards were better. But athletes and spectators were dismayed to find that the city's smog was thick enough to impair visibility and even cause respiratory problems.

Such a dramatic outcome is — to say the least — unlikely, since Vancouver is well known as one of the world's greenest cities. But the Beijing incident points to a tendency for Olympic contenders to boast their environmental commitment only to fall short on key promises. Vancouver's broken promises, says the David Suzuki Foundation, could be in transportation offsets and public engagement.

For their part, winter Olympic athletes have stressed the urgent impact climate change will have on their sports. "I see global warming firsthand: melting glaciers, changing snow patterns and the closing of lower-elevation hills," said Canadian Ski Team member Kelly VanderBeek, part of the Play it Cool campaign joined by dozens of Olympic athletes.  "Winter sports are threatened by global warming."

But it's not just winter games hosts that are talking up their environmental programs. London, the site of the 2012 summer games, has partnered with the World Wildlife Fund and BioRegional to center its entire "One Planet Olympics" around global sustainability.

Vancouver has clearly raised the bar to minimize the Olympics' environmental strain. But it has a long way to go if 2010 intends to win a gold medal in green Olympics.

Photo credit: jeffwilcox