THE CHALLENGE
The organizing committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games made headlines when it committed to reduce emissions and, for the first time in history, run a carbon-neutral Olympic Games.
The organizing committee reduced emissions from the Games by as much as 15 per cent by making investments into energy-efficient buildings, green transportation infrastructure and innovative technologies such as the heat recovery system at the Athletes Village.
Two problems remained: how to tackle the 118,000 tonnes of remaining emissions from the operations of the organizing committee and from a share of the construction emissions, and how to tackle the 150,000 tonnes of indirect emissions, largely from sponsor and spectator travel to the Games.
THE BACKGROUND
To take on this challenge, the organizing committee drew on the expertise of a Vancouver-based carbon offsetting company, Offsetters Clean Technology. Recognizing that the Games would attract more than two billion spectators, Offsetters worked with a number of other clean technology companies to develop a strategy to guide and facilitate the organizing committee’s carbon-neural plan, while also using the Games as a platform to raise awareness about promising new clean technologies.
THE RESULT
Offsetters and its partner companies implemented a series of new projects that made measurable reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions to offset the 118,000 tonnes of emissions created by the Games. Any remaining emissions were counterbalanced by Offsetters through the purchase of high-quality offsets from existing greenhouse-gas-reducing projects. By getting involved, Offsetters and the other clean technology companies were able to gain significant media exposure for their projects before, during and after the Games.
In addition, Offsetters created a campaign that asked spectators, official sponsors and suppliers to take responsibility for offsetting their own travel and other emissions. The company worked directly with sponsors and suppliers to quantify and offset their emissions through a Carbon Partners Program.
To reach spectators, carbon calculators were embedded in Olympic websites, and the offsetting company worked with Rethink Communications to create a social-media campaign to draw attention to the impacts of climate change. Focused on Bobwheeling, an ironic demonstration sport proposed for a future with warmer winters, the overall media campaign generated around 30 million media impressions and it was covered by press from around the world, including Korea, Japan and Belarus.
The Carbon Partners Program engaged more than 50 per cent of the companies involved in the Games and offset up to 75 per cent of their total emissions. However, it proved much more difficult to convince spectators travelling to Vancouver to offset their emissions through the social-media program. While awareness was high, direct action to purchase offsets was limited.
The lesson from the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics to be learned by future host cities is that, while it is feasible to influence companies and other organizations involved in the event to tackle their emissions for brand-enhancing reasons, the best way to tackle spectator emissions is to build the cost of carbon into ticket prices.
Special to The Globe and Mail
Sauder School of Business associate professor James Tansey is the executive director of the Sauder research centre ISIS (Incubator for Social Innovation and Sustainability). He is president of Offsetters Clean Technology and he is one of four international advisers working with the United Nations Environment Program on the environmental strategy for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia.
This is the latest in a regular series of case studies by a rotating group of business professors from across the country. They appear every Friday on the Your Business website.
