Tokyo 2020 Olympics sustainability: An elusive concept or reality?

Abstract

The Olympic Games continue to be a creator of adverse environmental impacts for host communities. Given the role that the Olympic Games play in sustainability due to their size, the number of people attending, new construction and infrastructure, and the extensive exposure by the media, this study investigated the Tokyo 2020 Games by evaluating the efficacy of their ecological sustainability efforts. Methods for this study were framed by the conceptual model of Müller et al. Specifically, the model is grounded on the three general aspects of sustainability: ecological, social, and economic. Compared to all Olympic events from 1992 through 2020, results from the present research indicated that Tokyo 2020 Olympics may have been the most ecologically friendly Games. This ecological record is significant, but it may be an unrealistic benchmark, given that the lack of attendance due to the COVID-19 pandemic influenced much of the ecological sustainability scores.

Keywords

olympic games sustainability environmental assessment sport ecology

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Boykoff

Mascarenhas

(2016) The Olympics, sustainability, and greenwashing: the Rio 2016 Summer Games. Capitalism Nature Socialism 27(2): 1–11.

Cantelon

Letters

(2000) The making of the IOC environmental policy as the third dimension of the Olympic Movement. International Review for the Sociology of Sport 35(3): 294–308.

Carp

(2020) Study: Tokyo 2020 is already most expensive Summer Olympics on record. Available at: https://www.sportspromedia.com/news/tokyo-2020-cost-overrun-most-expensive-summer-olympics-study/ (accessed 24 January 2022).

Cervantes

(2021) The Tokyo Olympics’ staggering price tag and where it stands in history. Available at: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-tokyo-olympics-staggering-price-tag-and-where-it-stands-in-history-11627049612 (accessed 24 January 2022).

Chalip

(2006) Toward a distinctive sport management discipline. Journal of Sport Management 20(1): 1–21.

Chalip

(2018) Trading legacy for leverage. In: Brittain

Bocarro

Byers

Swart

(eds) Legacies and Mega-Events. Milton Park, UK: Routledge, pp.25–41.

Chappelet

(2008) Olympic Environmental concerns as a legacy of the Winter Games. The International Journal of the History of Sport 25(14): 1884–1902.

Chard

Mallen

(2012) Examining the linkages between automobile use and carbon impacts of community-based ice hockey. Sport Management Review 15(4): 476–484.

Del Fiacco

Orr

(2019) A review and synthesis of environmentalism within the Olympic Movement. International Journal of Event and Festival Management 10(1): 67–80.

10.

Dolf

Teehan

(2015) Reducing the carbon footprint of spectator and team travel at the University of British Columbia’s varsity sports events. Sport Management Review 18(2): 244–255.

11.

Dunbar

(2020) IOC says negative public opinion is no threat to Tokyo Games. Available at https://apnews.com/article/tokyo-olympic-games-public-opinionhealth- coronavirus-pandemic-edf88556ac545a17b8046e0e336958fd (accessed 24 January 2022).

12.

Dwyer

Mellor

Mistilis

, et al. (2000) A framework for assessing “tangible” and “intangible” impacts of events and conventions. Event Management 6(3): 175–189.

13.

Flyvbjerg

Budzier

Lunn

(2021) Regression to the tail: why the Olympics blow up. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space 53(2): 233–260.

14.

Geeraert

Gauthier

(2018) Out-of-control Olympics: why the IOC is unable to ensure an environmentally sustainable Olympic Games. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning 20(1): 16–30.

15.

Gold

(2013) Bring it under the legacy umbrella: Olympic host cities and the changing fortunes of the sustainability agenda. Sustainability 5(8): 3526–3542.

16.

Gold

(2020) Land remediation, event spaces, and the pursuit of Olympic legacy. Geography Compass 14(8): e12495.

17.

Holden

MacKenzie

VanWynsberghe

(2008) Vancouver’s promise of the world’s first sustainable Olympic games. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy 26(5): 882–905.

18.

Inoue

(2021) A new poll in Japan finds 83 percent don’t want the Olympics this summer. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/18/world/asia/covid-japan-olympics-poll.html (accessed 24 January 2022).

19.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2014) Summary for policymakers: Contribution of working group III to the fifth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Report, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.

20.

Kellison

McCullough

(2020) Angelenos’ environmental attitudes and behaviors in advance of LA 2028. Journal of Olympic Studies 1(2): 1–21.

21.

Kennelly

Watt

(2011) Sanitizing public space in Olympic host cities: the spatial experiences of marginalized youth in 2010 Vancouver and 2012 London. Sociology 45(5): 765–781.

22.

Kietlinski

(2020) Trash islands: the Olympic Games and Tokyo’s changing environment. The Asian-Pacific Journal 18(4): 1–11.

23.

Lenskyj

(1998) Sport and corporate environmentalism: the case of the sydney 2000 olympics. International Review for the Sociology of Sport 33(4): 341–354.

24.

Leopkey

Parent

(2012) Olympic Games legacy: from general benefits to sustainable long-term legacy. International Journal of the History of Sport 29(6): 924–943.

25.

MacAloon

(2008) ‘Legacy’ as managerial/magical discourse in contemporary Olympic affairs. The International Journal of the History of Sport 25(14): 2060–2071.

26.

Marchant

(2021) The Tokyo Olympics by the numbers. Available at: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/07/tokyo-2020-olympics-numbers/ (accessed 24 January 2022).

27.

McDougall

Ross

(2021) The Olympics is a disaster for people who live in host cities. Available at: https://www.washingtonpostcom/outlook/2021/07/29/olympics-is-disaster-people-who-live-host-cities/ (accessed 24 January 2022).

28.

Müller

Wolfe

Gaffney

, et al. (2021) ‘An evaluation of the sustainability of the Olympic games. Nature Sustainability 4(4): 340–348.

29.

Nakamura

(2021) Olympics may lose favor with the Japanese due to ballooning costs. Available at: https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2021/08/0933f5ba88dd-focus-olympics-may-lose-favor-with-japanese-due-to-ballooning-costs.html (accessed 24 January 2022).

30.

Paquette

Stevens

Mallen

(2011) The interpretation of environmental sustainability by the International Olympic Committee and Organizing Committees of the Olympic Games from 1994 to 2008. Sport in Society 14(3): 355–369.

31.

Pentifallo

VanWynsberghe

(2012) Blame it on Rio: isomorphism, environmental protection and sustainability in the Olympic Movement. International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics 4(3): 427–446.

32.

Preuss

(2010) The conceptualization and measurement of mega sport event legacies. Journal of Sport Tourism 12(3–4): 207–228.

33.

Ross

Leopkey

(2017) The adoption and evolution of environmental practices in the Olympic Games. Managing Sport and Leisure 22(1): 1–18.

34.

Ross

Leopkey

Mercado

(2019) Governance of Olympic environmental stakeholders. Journal of Global Sport Management 4(4): 331–350.

35.

Samuel

Stubbs

(2013) Green Olympics, green legacies? An exploration of the environmental legacies of the Olympic Games. International Review for the Sociology of Sport 48(4): 485–504.

36.

Schnitzer

Haizinger

(2019) Does the Olympic Agenda 2020 have the power to create a new Olympic heritage? An analysis for the 2026 Winter Olympic Games bid. Sustainability 11(2): 442.

37.

Smith

(2010) Leveraging benefits from major events: maximising opportunities for peripheral urban areas. Managing Leisure 15(3): 161–180.

38.

Takahashiu

Vasquez

(2021) Japan: promoting the respect of human rights by business during the Covid-19 crisis. Available at: https://www.ibanet.org/article/c4369e58-d011-4da0-9956-742fb8b42a46 (accessed 24 January 2022).

39.

The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (TOCOG) (2013) Tokyo 2020: Discover tomorrow . TOCOG.

40.

The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (TOCOG) (2020) Sustainability pre-games report (main report). Available at: https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/en/games/sustainability/report (accessed 24 January 2022).

41.

The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (TOCOG) (2021) Update to the Sustainability Pre-Games Report. Available at: https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/en/games/sustainability/report (accessed 24 January 2022).

42.

Triantafyllidis

(2020) Environmental change, the sport industry, and COVID-19. In: Pedersen

Reichley

(eds) Sport and the Pandemic: Perspectives on Covid-19’s Impact on the Sport Industry. Milton Park, UK: Routledge, pp.TBD.

43.

Vanwynsberghe

(2015) The Olympic Games Impact (OGI) study for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games: strategies for evaluating sport mega-events’ contribution to sustainability. International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics 7(1): 1–18.

44.

Vanwynsberghe

Derom

Maurer

(2012) Leveraging the 2010 Olympic Games: ‘sustainability’ in a city of Vancouver initiative. International Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure & Events 4(2): 185–205.

45.

Wade

(2021) Tokyo Olympics cost $15.4 billion. What else could that buy? Available at: https://apnews.com/article/2020-tokyo-olympics-games-total-cost-8ec49ea2ea9d7316f37ffd20770a2742 (accessed 24 January 2022).

46.

Wamsley

(2021) The Olympics are really happening. For athletes, that means a huge number of rules. Available at: https://www.npr.org/2021/06/09/1004765190/the-olympics-are-really-happening-for-athletes-that-means-a-huge-number-of-rules (accessed 24 January 2022).

47.

Weiler

Mohan

(2010) The Olympic Games and the triple bottom line of sustainability: opportunities and challenges. The International Journal of Sport and Society 1(1): 187–202.

48.

Wicker

(2018) The carbon footprint of active sport participants. Sport Management Review 22(4): 513–526.

49.

Wilson

Millington

(2013) Sport, ecological modernization and the environment. In: Andrews

Carrington

(eds) A Companion to Sport. New York, NY: Blackwell Publishing, pp.129–142.

50.

Yee Hee Lee

Denyer

(2021) Japanese taxpayers were shut out from Olympic venues. Now they can view the staggering bill. Available at: https://www.washingtonpostcom/world/2021/08/15/olympics-tokyo-costs-japan/ (accessed 24 January 2022).