China hailed for readying carbon-neutral Games

SHANGHAI • The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has praised China for delivering on its promises to stage a carbon-neutral Games by introducing renewable energies to Olympic venues and its plans to attract 300 million winter sports fans.

Juan Antonio Samaranch, the chairman of the IOC Coordination Commission for Beijing 2022, said on Tuesday he was happy and proud to see that Beijing had dedicated enormous attention to sustainability, with the aim of holding a carbon-neutral Games.

The IOC held the virtual meeting to introduce the technical preparations for the Feb 4-20 Winter Games, including the venues, the first version of the event's "playbook" and the ongoing test events.

Expressing his satisfaction with the work done by the Beijing Winter Olympics organising committee, Samaranch said: "They're going to deliver an extraordinary Games even in this very challenging period with the pandemic.

"With less than 90 days to the Games, the IOC and the Beijing 2022 organising committee are both in full operational mode."

Touching on some of the environmentally friendly measures undertaken by the Chinese, the Spaniard said it was very much aligned with the principles of Olympic Agenda 2020+5, a strategic road map that works towards "achieving sustainable development".

"Many Olympic and Paralympic venues are powered by renewable energies, like solar or wind. It's very innovative on low carbon emission. The CO2 refrigeration systems will be used in most of the ice venues," he added.

On their efforts to promote the Games, Samaranch said: "China also keeps the promise of getting 300 million people involved in winter sports.

"The winter sports population in China reached 224 million in the 2018-19 season. We are convinced that Beijing Winter Olympics will inspire thousands of children and young students to embrace winter sports across the world."

The 62-year-old, son of the late IOC chief, also revealed "the facilities in game areas and services in the venues are ready, and we are in the middle of the final test events, activities and training weeks".

Winter sports fans that China has targeted to attract.

Christophe Dubi, IOC Olympic Games executive director, was just as positive as he spoke of the preparations of Beijing 2022, which have received high marks and positive feedback from international federations and athletes in terms of the test events.

"It is really impressive to see the Water Cube (colloquial term for the Beijing National Aquatics Centre) turned into an Ice Cube, the same for the new venues which have been built.

"Big issues have already been resolved and we should focus on details in the final stretch. The Olympic Games is always an opportunity to make the world come together."

XINHUA