ODA offsets Olympic park carbon

The Olympic Delivery Authority has had to pump over £1m into energy efficiency for schools and housing in order to meet the Olympic park’s carbon reduction targets.

It has confirmed it has failed to meet its renewable energy targets, and has had to find alternative ways of curbing its emissions, as revealed by Building in February.

Last week the body said 9% of the park’s electricity would be generated from renewable sources, rather than the 20% it had aimed at. It argued it would still be able to meet its aim of producing half the carbon emissions of a normal scheme by cutting energy waste in the surrounding boroughs.

Shaun McCarthy, head of the Commission for a Sustainable 2012, which oversees the Games’ green credentials, said that the Olympics would still be a triumph for green construction.

He denied that the ODA’s grant to surrounding London boroughs was similar to carbon offsetting of flights. “The ODA’s alternative arrangements are robust. They are honouring their overall carbon targets,” he said.

On Monday the commission published a report into the ODA’s sustainability targets. Plans for a wind turbine had to be jettisoned over health and safety fears, while alternative energy options were reduced after it signed a heating contract with an energy provider largely reliant on gas.

Nonetheless, the report said that the Olympics was “on track” to deliver sustainability.

A spokesperson for the Renewable Energy Association said the 9% figure was “shocking.” He said: “The technology is there to be pretty much zero carbon.”

But Richard Jackson, principal sustainable development manager at the ODA, said: “The Olympic park has set new standards in sustainability.”