The challenge of delivering a 'climate-positive' 2032 Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games
ABC News
Dec 8 2023
Delivering a "climate-positive" Olympics and Paralympic Games in Brisbane 2032 will require "radical thinking" that puts the needs of the planet above the wants of humans, experts say.
Key points:
The International Olympic Committee has committed to making all Olympic Games climate positive from 2030 onwards
Brisbane is contractually obliged to deliver the world's first climate-positive Games
Expert says delivering it will require "radical thinking" that moves away from old economic systems
Planning is well underway to ensure Brisbane meets its contractual commitment to deliver the first "climate-positive" Games, but Queensland academic Professor Marcus Foth believes achieving the goal in less than 10 years will require sacrifice.
"It's going to be a challenge," he said.
Professor Foth, from the Urban Informatics unit at QUT, said Brisbane has a golden opportunity to present a new "planet-centred" society.
"We cannot just assume that human needs … are the primal kind of consideration," he said.
"We've actually got to put ourselves into the mix of an ecological perspective where we are a part of an ecosystem.
"Obviously what we don't want is to go back into the stone ages … so we have got to find this middle ground where we recognise that there is a limit to growth."
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has committed to make its organisation "climate positive" from 2024, and all Olympic Games climate positive from 2030 onwards.
What delivering a 'climate-positive' Games mean?
Crowds of people walking at Brisbane's South Bank on a sunny afternoon.
Brisbane is contractually obliged to deliver the world's first climate-positive Games.
Professor Foth said it will require a departure from thinking around old economic systems.
"There is a lot of rhetoric in the documents, in the way that politicians talk about it, where the old business as usual slips in — which is about growth, it's about making money," he said.
"Well those are all very nice things to aspire towards, but they are all qualities of the old economic system," he said.
"Climate positive is very different — any kind of action that we as humans do needs to be making a positive contribution to the environment."
Professor Foth provided an example of a residential building where the occupants create more energy and water than they consume.
To achieve climate positivity, Professor Foth said there needs to be an entirely new approach to the economy and society, which prioritises the planet and life itself.
Brisbane Olympics president Andrew Liveris says he wants the 2032 Brisbane Games to leave a legacy.
Andrew Liveris, president of 2032 Olympics and Paralympics, also wants to see lasting change.
"Our region can elevate through demonstration, what life on the planet should look like — through sporting events," Mr Liveris said.
"I am not doing this job because of a passing fancy and interest in sports.
"I'm doing this because I think we can truly elevate humanity through the Olympics by showing Brisbane 2032 is the best ever … not just the best Games ever, but the best legacy ever."
What will the new approach involve?
A young boy throws something into a yellow city recycling bin.
Experts say a climate-positive Olympic Games goes well beyond sustainable measures such as recycling.
Mr Liveris said the Brisbane Olympic Organising Committee (OCOG) will form a sustainability committee early this year, to start turning ideas into plans and actions.
"We have to think about blueprint — not footprint and handprint … we have to have a planet-friendly orientation to all of our activities, and the Olympics are taking the lead there with the IOC, fundamentally, setting out a sustainability framework that says net positive for Brisbane," he said.
"There are a swathe of technologies and programs and tools that will have to be deployed to make that happen."
Looking up at a high rise city building with blue reflective windows, with trees and clouds.
The Games will use pre-existing venues.
Among considerations for the sustainability committee will be the effects of transportation, the process of carbon capture and storage and the implementation of closed-loop water systems.
"Innovation ecosystem is also something I'm definitely talking to the Queensland government about," Mr Liveris said.
"How we can actually attract investment in the innovation ecosystem, whether it be in recycling drones for transport, lightweight nanomaterials to make light aircraft … whether we can do recycling for making furniture from old clothing."
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