London 'provides a sustainability blueprint for Olympic Games for years to come'

London has provided a sustainability blueprint for Olympic Games for years to come, one expert has said, as efforts to reduce emissions at this year's Games were described as being much more effective than previous hosts.

Simon Lewis, a campaigner at environmental group WWF UK, joined several other environmental experts in praising the organisers of the London Olympics in creating a green legacy which will remain for years to come.

An independent commission has reviewed results of the environmentally-sustainable effort, concluding that, although not everything has worked, the outcome has been impressive when compared to previous hosts Beijing, Athens and Sydney. This has been interpreted as a success by the organisers, who had set very ambitious goals to start out with.

Emmanuelle Moreau, an International Olympic Committee spokesman said: "London 2012 embedded sustainability in its planning from the start." Whether it be a biofuel analysis of Olympic cars or efforts to tackle water shortages, there was a long-term view of sustainability throughout the course of the plans.

Most of the sustainable development targets have been beaten, such as those for carbon emissions, waste and energy efficiency, the independent commission said in a June report. These were ambitious targets to say the least, which makes the results all the more impressive.

One target promised a 50 per cent reduction in carbon emissions from construction in the Olympic Park compared to levels set out in 2006 building regulations. Another called for permanent buildings to be at least 15 per cent more energy efficient, and for at least 90 per cent of demolition waste to be reused or recycled.

Some two million tonnes of soil in East London was removed and cleaned to remove contaminates such as oil, petrol, tar, arsenic and lead. Many other areas have been an overriding success for London, which means Brazil will need to be ready to continue the legacy come 2016.

Posted by Joseph Hutton