Xinhua News Agency - Achim Steiner, the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), says lessons learnt at the Beijing Olympics can help promote more green initiatives for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. "The 2008 Olympic Games will leave a lasting legacy for the world,'' said Mr. Steiner. "Beijing's efforts can quickly become a model for sustainable development for other cities in the developing world.''
UNEP has been working with the Beijing Olympic Committee for the last three years, advising organizers on various aspects of greening the games. Over the last seven years, the Chinese government has spent US$17 billion on a large-scale green drive ahead of the Games, including a series of long-term environmental improvements for the city.
As part of this, the city has introduced tougher standards for vehicle emissions and phased out ozone-depleting substances. The authorities have also expanded Beijing's public transport network with three new subway lines and the introduction of some 3,800 compressed natural gas buses - one of the largest fleets of in any city in the world.
The Olympic venues themselves also have many green features: 20 per cent of their energy comes from clean wind sources, solar power features prominently in the Olympic Village, and the Bird's Nest stadium has an advanced rainwater recycling system.
Mr. Steiner has seen first-hand some of the environmental improvements implemented around Beijing for the Games, such as Beijing's newly-inaugurated subway lines and the Solar Wall, 2,000 square metres of solar panels.
In the second half of 2008, UNEP will produce a Post-Games Environmental Assessment Report to assess the successes and challenges of the environmental measures taken by the organizers of the Beijing Games. The report will be instrumental in helping UNEP give the organizers of the 2010 New Delhi Commonwealth Games the best possible advice to reduce the environmental impact of the event.
Beijing has also ordered the closing of factories surrounding Beijing and ordered half of 3.3 million cars in Beijing off the roads. All government cars were ordered to keep off the road for one day each week according the last figure of their plate number. Nearly 90 percent of coal-burning power plants in provinces neighboring Beijing have taken measures to reduce the emission of sulphur dioxide, and many vehicles have been upgraded to meet stricter emission requirements.
"These measures have been effective so far," said Fan Yuansheng, Director-General of the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP)'s Department of Pollution Control. He refuted allegations that China's air pollution standards were more lenient than World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. Standards that China was using to control four major air pollutants - sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and particles - followed the WHO's "phase one" guideline issued in 2005, he said.
The WHO allows developing countries like China to begin from this guideline to eventually reach its stricter final goals. Fan said measures adopted to reduce pollution in Beijing for its hosting of the summer Olympics would stay in force after the event. "Most of these measures are long-term ones and will remain after the Games. Not all the temporary measures will be retained after the Games, but they may provide clues for our future work," he said.
The Chinese government recently warned that more factories could be temporarily shut down and more cars could be restricted from the roads in Beijing if "extremely unfavorable weather conditions" occur to deteriorate the air during the Games. But many Beijing residents are more worried that air pollution could turn bad after the Olympics, with factories reopened, construction resumed and cars no longer restricted.
Fan argued that the Olympics would leave environmental legacies to Beijing and China, which has spent billions to clean the environment polluted by rapid industrialization.
Meanwhile, 16 environmental groups based in Beijing called on local motorists not to drive on Aug. 8, in order to help reduce pollution and road congestions when the Olympics open. They further encouraged private car owners to use public transport as much as possible during the Olympics and the following Paralympics to "contribute a blue sky to Beijing."
The groups with over 200,000 members hoped the usage of private cars would be reduced by one million times if the campaign are well responded in the next two months, according to Yu Xinbin, member of the Global Village of Beijing, a non-governmental organization.
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