OPINION | Xu Haodong: Green Olympics - Embracing a shared future for all on Earth

After the Tokyo Olympics 2021 last summer, the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics is the second Olympic Games to take place during the coronavirus pandemic, , and the first to be carbon neutral. 

The only city to have hosted both summer and winter Olympics, Beijing is keen to make a statement about practical action to protect the environment and embrace a shared future for everyone and everything on Earth.

The climate emergency - rising sea levels, increased aridity in the northern plains already beset by a water crisis, food security issues and more – make green growth a vital concern for all countries and regions. Indeed, rising temperatures around the world pose an existential threat to winter sports. According to researchers from the University of Waterloo, global heating trends will make the Winter Olympics unviable at all but one former host venue -- Sapporo in Japan -- by 2100. In this context, Beijing’s effort to create a Green Olympics is a step toward helping save winter sports and tackling global climate change.

China Environmental News reported on February 4 that all the venues of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics will use “green electricity” generated from recyclable sources such as wind, solar or hydraulic power. The newspaper called it “a breakthrough in the history of Olympic Games.”

According to a report published on the website of Nature on February 4, China has reduced emissions by retrofitting buildings from the 2008 summer games, using renewable power and procuring vehicles fuelled by hydrogen, natural gas and electricity.

“Previous Winter Olympics claimed to be carbon neutral, but the International Olympics Committee says that China is considering a much broader range of emissions. It has already invested heavily in renewable energy as part of its overall goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2060,” says the report.

The report quoted Marie Sallois as saying that “Beijing’s winter games are the first to have considered a broad range of emissions from the earliest stages of preparation.” Sallois is a director of sustainable development at the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne, Switzerland. Beijing’s approach of embedding sustainability at all stages of the process is “something we will encourage for future games,” Sallois said.

The wide use of “green electricity” is just one example of how Beijing has thrown its weight behind creating a Green Olympics. All the 25 games venues, of which 13 were newly built, are deploying energy-saving technologies, including low-carbon building materials such as recycled cement and smart snowmaking, which use 20 percent less water than traditional technologies. CO2 collected from industrial waste gases is also used to cool ice rinks in four ice sports venues  - a new technology replacing traditional hydrofluorocarbons that can damage the ozone layer. 

Within the Olympic bubble, participants are transported on more than 1,000 hydrogen-powered buses. China is the world's largest hydrogen producer, with an annual production capacity of 41 million tons, and has been striving to make technology breakthroughs in storing and transporting the clean energy. All these new technologies will change people’s lifestyle in the future, leading to environmentally-friendly living habits.

Moreover, any non-renewable energy use will be offset by afforestation. In Zhangjiakou, a city 100 miles northwest of Beijing that will host some skiing and snowboarding events, trees have been planted over an area of 3,521 square miles to reach a net-zero target. 

China’s pledge of an environmentally sustainable Olympics is part of a national goal to hit peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and reach carbon neutrality by 2060. As such, the Games are not just a demonstration zone for its eco-credentials, with the latest green technologies on display for a global audience, but a solid call for action to address climate change. 

There is only one Earth for mankind. All countries should protect the environment and promote sustainable development. Building a shared future for humankind means sharing information widely on best practices. 

What China has done at the Green Olympics should stimulate a global conversation about how best to achieve the goal of living in harmony with nature in a manner appropriate to different national contexts.

The author, Xu Haodong, is a graduate student at the School of Journalism and Communication, Shanghai International Studies University (SISU).