JO de Vancouver en 2010 : objectif neutralité carbonique[en] 

Sustainable development and the environment were signled out by the Centennial Olympic Congress in Paris in 1994. Since then, they have been included in the Olympic Charter as the third pillar of Olympism, alongside sport and culture. 

The World Conference on Sport and the Environment is organised every two years by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The conference brings together representatives of the world of sport, industry, sponsors, the UN and NGOs.

British Columbia and the Vancouver Organising Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) unveiled a "carbon-offset target" for the 2010 Winter Games on 30 March.

To neutralise up to 300,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions from the Games, VANOC is "in advanced sponsorship negotiations with carbon-offset management companies to create a unique 2010 carbon-offset portfolio that will showcase climate change solutions". 

The portfolio will include investments in green technology projects that improve energy efficiency or produce renewable energy such as wind, solar or geothermal. It may also include forestry and land use projects to help capture and store carbon from the atmosphere, the organisers said. 

The plan was presented during the eighth World Conference on Sport and the Environment , which gathered the international sports community in Vancouver on 29-31 March to discuss how organisations and major sporting events can contribute to environmental, cultural and economic sustainability.

The conference's final declaration  calls upon all sports stakeholders to promote sustainable development and environmental solutions through sport. 

National Olympic Committees are encouraged to form partnerships with local government entities in order to implement specific environmental projects. International federations are encouraged to adopt policies and supporting programmes to advance the principles of sustainability across their disciplines, and promote those principles to national federations. 

The participants also underlined that the Olympic Games present a "unique opportunity" to raise environmental awareness. Developing a new approach and implementing a "green code" in a community can help raise local environmental standards, the declaration underlines.

As for corporate sponsors of the Olympic Movement, the declaration encourages them to "share their sustainability practices and technologies with the Olympic family" and direct funding for increasing environmental awareness and empowerment of youth. 

Award for Sport and the Environment

The first-ever International Olympic Committee Sport and Environment Awards  were presented at the conference. The inaugural five trophies were awarded to organisations representing continents - Africa, America, Asia, Europe and Oceania. The winners were selected among individuals, groups and organisations based on the overall impact of the activity or project on the promotion of sustainable sport and its potential to serve as a catalyst for sustainable practices worldwide. 

The European prize went to the German Olympic Sports Confederation, which issues a guide to environmentally-sound large sporting events, the 'Green champions in sport and environment '. 

The guide provides examples of good practices undertaken in Germany, based on analysis of sporting events' impacts on climate, nature and the landscape, as well as sport-related transport, energy, waste, catering, communications and use of materials. The aim is to encourage the sports community to adopt a responsible attitude towards the environmental and sustainable development issues related to the practice of physical activity. 

The awards will be presented every two years to acknowledge and encourage the implementation of good environmental practices by the Olympic family.

"Caring for the environment is an important part of the work of the Olympic Movement. If sport events and activities are not planned and managed carefully, they can cause degradation of the natural environment. Equally important is the collective responsibility of those involved in sport to ensure that athletes and sport participants are able to train and compete in clean and healthy conditions. We also recognise there are many opportunities for sport, including sport events like the Olympic Games, to provide sustainable environmental legacies," said president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Jacques Rogge.

"Together with our partners, we take responsibility for our carbon footprint and are working hard to make the 2010 Winter Games as green as possible. Since we won the bid for the Games in 2003, we have focused on understanding our total carbon emissions and finding ways to reduce them at source," said John Furlong, the Vancouver Organising Committee's  (VANOC)  chief executive officer. 

"We've made good progress, and have been particularly sensitive to environmental sustainability in the construction of our venues. However, it's simply not possible to totally eliminate carbon emissions from the 2010 Winter Games. We are now actively working to secure partnerships that will enable us to neutralise our emissions by investing in projects that will remove or avoid an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere," Furlong added.