Olympia 2024: First comprehensive Sustainability Concept for Hamburg
Today, the Hamburg 2024 Bid Company and the city of Hamburg introduce you to the sustainability concept for the application to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in the Hanseatic City of Hamburg. At the request of the application company, Oeko-Institut and the Sports University of Cologne have developed the path-breaking concept in close cooperation and coordination with Hamburg’s Authorities for Environment and Energy, as well as with other actors.
The concept formulates a vision for sustainable economic, environmental and social Olympic Games, and sets out guidelines and fields of activity for the areas of social affairs & participation, infrastructure & mobility, ecology & resources, climate & energy, economy & utilization. In the run-up to the games, the experts have furthermore carried out an environmental assessment for all planned sporting venues, examining the impacts of sports events on nature and landscape, energy, water, soil, climate, air and human health. In addition, they prepared an initial, orientative carbon footprint of the Olympic Games.
“For the first time, we have thereby put forward a concept for a large sporting event in a participatory process, which gives equal consideration to all three pillars of sustainability”, Dr. Hartmut Stahl, project manager at Oeko-Institut, explains the importance of the concept. “Be it in terms of mobility, health, inclusion and integration, climate protection or sustainable procurement – thanks to this comprehensive approach as well as the 20 specific pilot projects aligned with the United Nations’ sustainable development goals, the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2024 have the chance to be the first games in history striving for sustainability at all levels.”
Objectives and Guidelines: Diversity, Inclusion & Integration
People with disabilities are a natural part of civil society. The involvement of people with functional impediments in planning, preparation and implementation of the Olympic and Paralympic Games ensures that inclusion is lived and becomes manifest. The development of barrier-free sports and recreational facilities, public transportation and other infrastructure is a fundamental requirement of inclusion, from which the entire population, especially elderly people, will benefit even long after the games.
Objectives and Guidelines: Individual Mobility
Hamburg's bicycle routes which will be gradually enhanced by 2020, are the basis of the Olympic cycling transport network, 2024’s Olympic and Paralympic Games thus acting as a catalyst for the further promotion of cycling in Hamburg, and thereby making a major contribution to achieving the 25 per cent share in Hamburg road transport targeted for the 2020s.
Objectives and guidelines: Example Ecology & Resources
Water in the Olympic village shall be used sparingly, while the natural water cycle is to be facilitated through a sustainable rainwater management. The guideline on the activity field of water specifies that, in the sense of the Olympic heritage, the conditions to reduce the drinking water needs of OlympiaCity’s residents by a quarter (as compared to the averages figures for Hamburg) need to be created. One of the 20 key projects furthermore supports the establishment of sustainable value chains with environmental and social standards along the entire supply chain.
Outlook: Sustainability Strategy for the Olympic Games
On November 29, 2015, citizens in Hamburg and Kiel will cast their vote on the Olympic bid in a referendum. In case of a positive outcome of the referendums, the present concept will be further concretized and developed into a comprehensive sustainability strategy. The decision on which city will be the host city of 2024’s Games will be taken by the IOC in autumn 2017.
Contact at Oeko-Institut:
Dr. Hartmut Stahl
Senior Researcher in
Infrastructure & Enterprises Division
Oeko-Institut e.V., Darmstadt office
Phone: ++49 6151 8191-180
Email: h.stahl@oeko.de