TOKYO (AP) – Organizers of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics have promised the most innovative, impeccably run and “sustainable” games ever. With just a little more than five years to go, doubts are growing whether they will deliver on the last pledge.
On Tuesday, the World Wide Fund for Nature and others backing use of renewable energy and other standards, including Masato Mizuno, the sports-goods magnate who led Tokyo’s bid for the games, issued a formal call for faster action.
Tokyo was declared host for the 2020 Games in Sept. 2013, and “at this point, a sustainability plan has not been made, so that is cause for concern,” said Taruyuki Ohno, a former Tokyo government official who helped draft the bid.
A year after London was awarded the 2012 Games, it had a sustainability plan for energy conservation, environmentally sound construction standards, ethnical procurement of supplies, and environmentally friendly handling of the huge volumes of waste from the event, among other requirements.
Tokyo needs to specify in detail the standards it intends to meet, said Shaun McCarthy, who headed London’s effort to make those games as sustainable as possible.