The Tokyo Olympics place the ecological requirement very high
Audio 02:52
A commercial passenger plane approaches Haneda Airport over the field hockey complex for the 2020 Summer Olympics, Thursday, July 22, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan.
AP - John Minchillo
By: Clea Broadhurst
7 mins
The Tokyo Olympics, which initially wanted to be the Games of "recovery" following the three disasters of 2011 (earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident) quickly had the new objective of being as "green" as possible: zero emission objective of carbon, medals made from recycled metals, gold, silver, and copper found in old Japanese cellphones.
Publicity
From our special correspondent in Tokyo,
This Tokyoite came to drop off her old cell phone, after hearing about the recycling center in the park in front of the city hall.
Dr Komei Harada, director of the Institute of Sustainable Development Design, is the initiator of the project.
“
In phones, there is also plastic or glass.
And these materials have all also been valued, after the "zero waste" medals: plastic produces thermal energy, glass has been recycled to make concrete for road construction.
So there was no waste.
I would really like to see the same thing at the Paris Olympics!
",
he explains.
The organizers aimed for zero carbon emissions, as Yuko Sakita, a former journalist who now advises the Ministry of the Environment, points out: “
We continue to produce a lot of CO2 emissions, so we have recourse to carbon offset projects, in particular on the already existing Olympic venues.
But the organizers had to reduce their emissions.
For these Games, seven new venues were built: they use 100% renewable energies, solar and geothermal energy.
"
Difficulties related to transparency
A procurement code has been put in place to ensure that only responsible companies are used. But Masako Konishi, director of WWF Japan, explains the difficulties associated with transparency. “
When the Tokyo 2020 organizers selected their suppliers, they left the door open to companies that did not fully comply with the code. For example, for seafood or timber, suppliers were supposed to regulate the exploitation of resources, but they only had to present a plan to be accepted, without supporting evidence. Even though the Tokyo Games went further than any other when it came to climate change, there were loopholes,
”she says.
It was still important for Japan to show its progress in terms of environmental initiatives, as the activist Kanta Hani, at the origin of the NGO network on sustainable development, recalls. For him, sport and nature are two intrinsically linked elements, and the Games were the perfect opportunity to highlight issues related to climate change.
“
Japan is a country that suffers a lot of natural disasters.
Recently there was a big landslide in Atami.
But similar things are happening in Germany, in China.
All of this is the consequence of global warming.
The Olympics are an opportunity to bring together people from all over the world, but this leads to increased energy consumption, producing waste, like all major events.
We wanted to show the world that it is possible to hold such an event while limiting its environmental impact
, ”notes Kanta Hani.
The Japanese hope that Paris will go even further in its efforts to organize the most responsible event possible.
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