Summary
The relationship between the Olympic Movement and Planetary Health.
By Chang Su
University of Edinburgh
Introduction
Health is not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, but a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being. A similar logic applies to planetary health. Achieving planetary health is not primarily about reducing harm, but about actively restoring.
Criticism of mega sporting events has largely focused on their environmental impacts. Hosting the modern Olympic Games inevitably affects the environment, regardless of the scale of these impacts.
This raises an important question: Can the Olympic Movement (OM) be understood as a tool for advancing planetary health? This blog provides insights into this question by drawing on evidence from official Olympic Movement archival materials and website information.
The International Olympic Committee
In 2020, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that, from 2030 onwards, the Olympic Games would become “climate positive.” “Creating an Olympic Forest will be one way in which we will work to achieve this goal,” said IOC President at the time Thomas Bach.
The Olympic Forest was initiated by the IOC in partnership with the African Union, bringing together more than 20 countries to plant over 400,000 native trees across 125 villages in Mali and Senegal (host of the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games). It covered an estimated area of approximately 1,500 hectares.
The project further promoted the establishment of an Olympic Forest Network with Brazil, Papua New Guinea, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, and India joined the network early on.
These initiatives contribute to planetary health by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving climatic conditions, mitigating land degradation, and enhancing biodiversity, thereby strengthening ecosystem resilience. At the same time, they promote food security, increase local income, and enhance communities’ capacity to adapt to droughts, floods, and climate change.
Select Olympic Cases 2000-2016
Sydney 2000
Homebush Bay in Sydney was a heavily contaminated brownfield site, previously used as a slaughterhouse and a dumping ground for liquid waste. In 2000, Australia used the Olympic Games as a platform to transform it into the Sydney Olympic Park. The area accommodates an average daily community population of approximately 21,600 people, hosts around 230 businesses, and attracts more than 14 million visitors annually. The Park’s 2030 plan is expected to generate over 30,000 jobs and commits to achieving net-zero emissions by 2030.
Salt Lake City 2002
The Salt Lake Organizing Committee, in collaboration with local air quality authorities, the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 8, and the Utah Environmental and Public Health Alliance, developed the first Games-time Air Quality Plan in Olympic history.
Beijing 2008
In preparation for the Olympic Games, China collaborated with the United Nations Environment Programme to address severe air pollution. Beijing significantly improved air quality by promoting the substitution of coal with natural gas, shutting down highly polluting industries, strengthening vehicle inspection and traffic restrictions, enhancing construction site regulation, and upgrading 60,000 coal-fired boilers.
More than 4,000 buses were converted to natural gas. “Olympic Blue” became a symbolic term, and during the Games the air pollution index decreased by 36% compared with the average of the previous eight years.
It should be noted that the long-term sustainability of air quality improvements in the Salt Lake City 2002 and Beijing 2008 have been questioned.
London 2012
Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park has become a vibrant new heart of East London. Hosting the Olympic Games provided an opportunity to regenerate a 560-acre site in the eastern part of the city, which had historically been used for industrial purposes. Since 2012, a large number of trees have been planted, bird populations have increased significantly, and endangered invertebrate species have begun to inhabit the park.
Rio 2016
The Rio 2016 Olympic Games were criticized as greenwashing due to the failure to complete environmental targets, such as the clean-up of Guanabara Bay and tree planting.
Nevertheless, the researcher does not fully endorse claims of greenwashing. Without the Olympic Games, even these incomplete efforts would not have taken place. At the same time, this case serves as a reminder that environmental restoration after degradation is not an easy task.
Rio 2016 demonstrated an unprecedented level of ambition and attention in addressing environmental issues. The organizers proposed more than 25 legacy projects, around half of which were directly related to environmental issues or indirectly contributed to environmental benefits.
Conclusion
These cases are not exhaustive, and their contributions remains uneven and contested, but the OM, as a global platform, with significant influence, can be seen as an effective tool for advancing planetary health in a way that goes beyond just key messaging.
