Beijing Winter Olympics goes carbon neutral
It is also a solemn commitment made by Beijing when it joined hands with Zhangjiakou to bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics. Low Carbon Management Report for the Winter Olympic Games (Pre-Games)” (hereinafter referred to as the “Report”). The Report systematically presents the work related to the carbon management of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, focusing on the carbon neutral methodology of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, greenhouse gas emission baseline, actual preparatory process emissions, the effectiveness of low carbon management measures, the construction of forestry carbon sink projects, and corporate sponsorship of certified carbon emission reductions. After comprehensive calculations, the carbon emissions generated by the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics will all be neutralized.
Beijing Winter Olympics carbon emissions to be fully neutralized
At the early stage of preparation and hosting, the baseline greenhouse gas emissions of the Beijing Winter Olympics will be about 1.637 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent according to the relevant carbon footprint methodologies at home and abroad. According to the actual situation of preparing and holding the Beijing Winter Olympics under the epidemic, the current revised baseline emissions are about 1.306 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.On June 23, 2019, International Olympic Day, the “Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralympic Games Low Carbon Management Work Program” was officially released to the public, proposing 4 low-carbon energy, low-carbon venues, low-carbon transportation, and the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee taking the lead in 18 measures in 4 aspects, such as low-carbon energy, low-carbon venues, low-carbon transportation, and the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee taking the lead, in order to minimize carbon emissions generated by the Beijing Winter Olympic Games. At the same time, carbon offsetting measures such as carbon sequestration in forestry, independent action by enterprises and carbon inclusion system have been proposed. Since the release of the Low Carbon Plan, the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee has been working closely with the Beijing and Hebei governments to promote the implementation of the measures and has achieved positive results
First, all the venues have achieved green power supply. The Zhangbei flexible DC power grid pilot demonstration project will be put into operation in 2020 to transmit renewable energy from Zhangjiakou area to Beijing in a safe and efficient manner, fully meeting the electricity demand of the Winter Olympic venues in Beijing and Zhangjiakou area. The establishment of cross-regional green power trading mechanism, through the green power trading platform, will achieve 100% use of green power in all venues at the time of the tournament.
Second, all venues will meet green building standards. All new indoor venues have reached the three-star green building standard, and existing indoor venues have reached the two-star green building standard through energy-saving renovation. The innovative organization has formulated the “Green Snow Sports Venue Evaluation Standard”, and all the new snow sports venues of the Beijing Winter Olympics meet the standard. At the same time, the Beijing Winter Olympics used carbon dioxide refrigerant with a global warming potential (GWP) of 1 and ozone depletion potential (ODP) of 0 in four ice venues, which is the first time this technology is used in the Winter Olympics.
Third, to build a low-carbon transportation system during the games. According to the principle of “using electricity in the plains and hydrogen in the mountains”, electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles were promoted in each competition area. At the same time, the “Traffic Resource Management System” was built to realize real-time monitoring and unified command of traffic operation during the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, which greatly improved traffic organization and operation efficiency during the event.
Fourth, the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee took the lead in demonstrating. The Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee has moved into the Shougang Industrial Theme Park, comprehensively utilizing and transforming the waste factory buildings, making full use of photovoltaic power generation, solar lighting, rainwater collection and utilization technologies, and building a green and high-standard Shougang office area for the Winter Olympic Organizing Committee, which not only meets the office needs of the Winter Olympic Organizing Committee, but also plays a role in promoting the transformation and development of Shougang.
Fifth, the two governments donated forestry carbon sinks. The Beijing Municipal Government and Zhangjiakou Municipal Government completed 710,000 mu of new round of one million mu afforestation and greening project and 500,000 mu of Beijing-Hebei ecological water source protection forest construction project respectively, and commissioned professional institutions to complete the monitoring and certification of the corresponding carbon sinks, with certified carbon sinks of 530,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent and 570,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent respectively. The Beijing Municipal Government and the Hebei Provincial Government donated all the above carbon sinks to the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee free of charge.
Sixth, enterprises sponsored the certified carbon emission reductions. Three official partners of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, including PetroChina, State Grid and Three Gorges Group, actively supported the carbon neutral work of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games by sponsoring 200,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent carbon sinks to the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee in the form of certified carbon emission reductions.
In short, through the joint efforts of all parties, all carbon emissions of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games will be neutralized, and the goal of “holding a carbon neutral Winter Olympic Games” will be achieved as scheduled.
