2012 carbon report: Beijing's Water Cube trumps Aquatic centre

The Water Cube in Beijing comprised just one quarter of the materials used by the 2012 Aquatic centre, a report examining the carbon footprint of the London 2012 Games has found.

The Carbon Report, produced by the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012, is the first of its kind for a summer Games.

It has called on the Olympics to take responsibility for ensuring that emissions are reduced as far as possible.

The commission said the responsibility of the carbon footprint should lie with the Olympic Board, who should also ensure that each of the delivery bodies continues to reduce and avoid emissions in their areas of control. This includes LOCOG, London 2012 and the government.

Shaun McCarthy, chair of the commission, said: “Everyone expected the biggest CO² contributor to be air travel, but in fact it’s the construction process”

“The job for London 2012 and government now is to carry on avoiding and reducing emissions – ideas like the low-carbon torch flame are great examples of what can be done. “

McCarthy said he commended the work of the Olympic Delivery Authority in relation to sustainability in terms of achievements they have made in waste, reuse and transport.

The commission did also that the Olympic Park as a whole is probably the most sustainable construction project in the world.

However, McCarthy said: “London 2012 has to take responsibility for the inevitable remaining footprint.”

He also noted the environmental differences between projects on the site. “The Aquatic Centre has got more materials than it actually needs,” he said. “There is an awful lot of steel and piling compared with the Water Cube in Beijing. But then you have the Velopark,” he added, “which is very sustainable.”

In a table marking the progress of the delivery bodies in their bid to achieve sustainability, the Commission noted that most elements were on track.

However, London 2012 was accused of being behind schedule in developing and publishing its carbon footprint strategy and its measurement of an actual carbon footprint. The Commission noted it had not yet been agreed how the residual footprint will be addressed.

It also said that the extent to which actual emissions would be monitored and reported was unclear and contractors were not contractually obliged to report this.

Commenting, ODA chief executive David Higgins said: “We have made sure that sustainability is at the heart of this project from the outset and the ‘green build’ is on track.”