Archive for the 'Olympics' Category

Sports, Legacy and Sustainability Dialogue with Bruce Kidd

Published March 19, 2010 Olympics , Out and About 3 Comments
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Are the Olympics worth it?  That was the question posed to the Sports, Legacy and Sustainability panel on March 13, 2010.  Bruce Kidd, former Olympic athlete and guru of sports and sustainability, anchored the panel with an opening reflection on sustainability in Olympics past.  He seemed encouraged by the progress, yet hesitant to answer yes to his question.

Bruce gave credit where credit is due:  VANOC did build some of the greenest buildings in the world to host athletes; it was the first Olympics to embrace Aboriginal participation at the organizing level; and, VANOC’s Buy Smart program broke ground in the area of sustainable purchasing. 

The most important legacy of the Games is athleticism, before the environment, before anything according to Kidd.  And although Canada has proudly hosted three Olympic Games, we were disappointed to hear that participation of children and youth in sports in this country is plummeting. 

Kidd was joined by Derek Wyatt, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Group and James Tansey of Offsetters.  Wyatt talked candidly about the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) lack of commitment to ensuring a sustainable legacy in Host Cities.  In his opinion, Host Cities carry the sustainability agenda with little support from the IOC.

Wyatt is advocating for the IOC to support the creation of an “Olympic University” in London that would provide training and education to disenfranchised inner-city East Londoners.  Wyatt believes this is a missed opportunity.  The Organizing Committee for London 2012 could hire more of the so called “underemployed” inner-City folks from East London if training was provided amongst this population. 

James Tansey was more positive and sited the sustainability wins of VANOC including their commitments to offsetting the carbon footprint, the green building designs and the training legacy of the Buy Smart program. 

Despite having different priorities, the panellists agreed that Host Cities and those who live there feel a deep sense of human spirit and pride, which in itself is a large legacy.  Human’s need food for the body as well as the heart, said Kidd.  To paraphrase James Tansey:  ‘on that gold medal Sunday, Canadians had so much pride they didn’t know what to do with it’.

This is a debate that will continue.  We see many benefits – but are waiting to learn more about the real results before making a final decision.   What do you think?  “Is it worth it?”  Please post your comments as you begin to reflect on your Olympic legacy.

Vancouver 2010 Olympic Medals: the Untold Story

Published February 25, 2010 Ethical Purchasing , Olympics 1 Comment
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Did you know that the Vancouver 2010 Olympic medals are made of recycled gold, silver and bronze recovered from used electronics?  It’s true, the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC) for the 2010 Games has worked with their domestic sponsor Teck Resources  to ensure each of the 1,000+ medals contain recycled metals from electronic waste.  This is a great achievement worthy of its own medal and should be shared to inspire the world to take on similar initiatives.

 With the 2010 Winter Olympic Games well underway, many Olympic champions have risen to the podium to accept their medals, how many know that the medals they receive symbolize more than an ultimate athletic achievement.  On Sunday, Kevin McCarty had the amazing opportunity to sit with the athletes’ families during the speed skating and cross country skiing Victory Ceremonies.  He reported that it was a powerful experience to witness their emotion as their loved one’s bowed to receive their medals.  However, he also noticed that the story of recycled metal in the medals wasn’t made apparent during the ceremonies.    

Some might argue that the Victory Ceremonies are not about environmentalism and social responsibility, but during the beginning of the ceremonies information was projected on three large screens above the podium that proudly outlined VANOC’s commitment to being one of the most sustainable Games in Olympic history.  So there is a place in the Ceremonies for environmentalism and social responsibility, but unfortunately the story of the medals was not apparent.  Additionally, there was a short video shown about the artists who designed the medals, but again, the story of the recycled content was not told.

We here at Reeve Consulting strongly believe in the power of purchasing to change the world we live in and feel it would be a great opportunity to promote sustainable purchasing while the world is watching.  The story of the medals and their recycled metal content is a great example of how VANOC is helping to change the world.  The Victory Ceremonies would be a great place to share this story.

Check out these related blogs for more information on the Buy Smart Program and related success stories:  Buy Smart Program; Vancouver Olympics Sources Ethically Produced Flowers for Medal Ceremony

Beyond the Sexy Consequences of Giving Flowers for Valentine’s Day

Published February 9, 2010 Ethical Purchasing , Olympics 2 Comments
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With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, flower shops across North America are about to buy and sell hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of cut flowers. 

Are you planning on buying your special someone a bouquet?  Have you considered the consequences?  Many of them will likely be very positive, but there may be other related consequences that you wouldn’t want to share with your loved one.

Pause for a moment and imagine what is happening around the world as a result of Valentine’s Day.  North Americans are on the verge of demanding more long-stem roses than any other time of the year.  In response to this major demand, Latin America flower producers, in countries such as Ecuador and Colombia, are busy as can be cutting flowers and carefully packaging them so they survive the long journey north.  Boats, planes and trucks are gearing up to transport them all safely to your Valentine’s front door with a fairly large carbon footprint.

Sadly, as is the case with other tropical cash crops, such as coffee and chocolate, many flower producers across Latin America are reporting serious human rights violations in their workplace.  Acute pressure on production levels results in increased worker exploitation.  Did you know that the roses you may be buying this year might have been grown, cut and packaged by a woman who is working around the clock without breaks for very little money?

Don’t worry, I am not suggesting you avoid buying flowers for your loved one and try to explain the ethics behind it over a candle light dinner.  There are ethical and beautiful alternatives. 

Here are two fairly simple solutions:

a) try to buy locally produced flowers (there are some green houses operating this time of year in North America), or

b) if you buy imported flowers from the south look for those that bear a FairTrade Certified Logo.   

This year surprise your Valentine with a beautiful bouquet of flowers as well as a story of how these particular flowers are helping to make the world a better place.  This is sure to win you some extra points this Valentine’s Day!   

See related blog entitled: Vancouver Olympics Sources Ethically Produced Flowers for Medal Ceremonies.  This blog tells the story of how VANOC has made an effort to source flowers that meet ethical and environmental standards.

Vancouver Olympics Sources Ethically Produced Flowers for Medal Ceremonies

Published February 9, 2010 Ethical Purchasing , Ethical Supply Chain Management , Olympics 3 Comments
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The Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC) will soon be handing out 1800 ethically sourced bouquets of flowers to champion athletes during the medal ceremonies. At a time when men and women around North America will be buying flowers for Valentine’s Day, VANOC’s story of sourcing flowers from an ethically and environmentally minded company is timely.

VANOC awarded the contract to produce the bouquets for the ceremonies to Just Beginning Flowers, a Surrey-based non-profit social enterprise that sources ethically produced flowers from Ecuador and from local producers in the Fraser Valley. Although there has been some recent criticism about the Olympic bouquets not containing native plant species (see related article below), the owners and operators of Just Beginning Flowers state that the flowers they import from Ecuador are ethically sourced and meet Fair Trade standards.

Through their Buy Smart program, which Reeve helped develop, VANOC has set up protocols to ensure their suppliers are adhering to social and ethical standards. Just Beginning Flowers is considered one of the program’s success stories as they not only source locally and ethically from abroad, but they are also a social enterprise that has developed a training program for students that have barriers to employment. Furthermore, Just Beginning Flowers employs green business practices with the goal of minimizing the impact of their operations on the environment.

Check out the related Vancouver Sun  article which highlights the controversy about the lack of native plant species in the Olympic bouquets. This Valentine’s Day will you buy native plant species or imported flowers from Latin America?

For more detail on the VANOC Buy Smart program check out: Buy Smart Program Designed by Reeve Consulting Receives 2010 Games “Sustainability Star”

Reeve ‘Out and About’ at the Samsung 2010 Winter Games Sustainability Summit

Published February 2, 2010 Olympics , Out and About Leave a Comment
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Say “Samsung Sustainability Summit” really quickly, five times in a row.  Not so easy, is it? 

After attending the Samsung 2010 Winter Games Sustainability Summit in Vancouver last Thursday, January 28, it has been easy to talk about Samsung and sustainability in one sentence. 

Samsung, as an official sponsor to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), has grown with the IOC to become a leading sustainable supply chain advocate and practitioner.  In conversation with Ron Hulse, VP of Mobile Communications and Information Technology for Samsung Electronics Canada Inc., we discovered that Samsung appears to run a tight supply chain that fosters sustainability. From using EPA Smartway Transportation, to ensuring ISO 14001 compliance in 37 global manufacturing facilities, to trendy phones made of recycled products that use solar energy to function, to this Sustainability Summit, Samsung is well on its way to stepping out as a leader in sustainable supply chain management.

The Summit was buzzing with James Balog’s ‘Extreme Ice Survey’ presentation, a ground breaking photo documentary of the impact of climate change on glaciers and oceans around the world.  Balog set the scene by clearly demonstrating that climate change is urgent and we have a serious challenge to which to rise. 

Linda Coady, VP of Sustainability for the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games highlighted how they are front runners in planning the most sustainable Games in Olympic history.  Sounds like sustainability is becoming an Olympic sport; hopefully records are broken every year.

James Tansey, President of Offsetters, was proud to say they are going to help ensure the 2010 Games are carbon neutral and that individuals will be rewarded for offsetting their carbon impacts during the Olympics.  And Tzeporah Berman, co-founder of Forest Ethics, spoke eloquently about influencing large corporations to rethink their supply chain logistics and strategies in order to help mitigate the impacts of climate change. 

Everyone’s approach to addressing climate change through supply chain management was impressive and it was inspiring to hear their stories.  Reeve Consulting looks forward to helping to make the Olympics carbon neutral by offsetting our carbon emissions during the Games!

Buy Smart Program Designed by Reeve Consulting Receives 2010 Games “Sustainability Star”

Published January 28, 2010 Ethical Supply Chain Management , Olympics , Program Innovations , Sustainable Products 2 Comments
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Vancouver 2010’s Buy Smart program of ethical and sustainable purchasing has been awarded one of the pretigious Sustainabilty Star designations for the 2010 Winter Games.

The Buy Smart program was originally envisioned by Tim Reeve, Terry Wright, John McLaughlin and other members of the 2010 Bid Corporation as part of Vancouver’s original bid submission to host the 2010 games.

Buy Smart is recognized as an Olympic first and complimented the Reeve designed ethical sourcing program for the 2010 Olympic Merchandising program.

With an Olympic sized shopping list and a spending budget of over $1 billion the 2010 games have the power to make a big impact in the marketplace.  Designed to leverage this spending power, Buy Smart has created opportunities for green business and technologies, social enterprises and Aboriginal entrepreneurs.  Buy Smart has played a key role in directing spending into communities that might not have otherwise benefited from the games, such as Aboriginal communities and Vancouver’s inner-city.

Buy Smart has been promoted widely within the International Olympic Committee and to future games Organizing Committee’s.  Delegations from both the London 2012 Games and the Sochi 2014 Games have been briefed about the Buy Smart program and how it can be used to leverage sustainability programming associated with the games and other major events

Reeve Consulting is proud to have worked so closely with VANOC, the 2010 Commerce Centre and other 2010 Games partners in the creation of Buy Smart and is thrilled to see it recognized as one of the key sustainability features of the 2010 games.

LOCOG’s Sustainable Procurement Code ofConduct: An Emerging Trend in the Olympic Games

Published April 14, 2009 Ethical Purchasing , Olympics Leave a Comment

Firms who wish to do business with the London 2012 Organizing Committee (LOCOG http://www.london-2012.co.uk/) will have to meet relatively strict performance standards as outlined in its ‘Sustainable Procurement Code of Conduct’.

Similar to Vancouver 2010’s ground breaking ‘Supplier Code of Conduct for Social and Environmental Compliance,’ LOCOG has set requirements based on the following 4 principles:

  1. Responsible sourcing
  2. Use of secondary materials
  3. Minimising embodied impacts
  4. Healthy materials

Under each of these principles, the Code lays out preferences related to sustainable product specifications. Examples include requesting that a given product hold a third party eco-certification (see http://ecolabelling.org/).

The Code will be used by internal buyers as well as prospective suppliers and licensees to guide the procurement process in a way that will help to ensure the sustainability of the 2012 Games and set precedence for future games.

The initial priority categories on which the Code will focus include:

  • branded products;
  • products sourced from overseas, and;
  • labour providers

Procurement’s approach to sustainable sourcing will be based on the following questions:

1. Where does it come from?

2. Who made it?

3. What is it made of?

4. What is it wrapped in?

5. What will happen to it after the Games?

The answers to these questions will help the organizing committee determine how it will source specific products and sources. A trend is emerging in the Olympic Games in terms of sustainable purchasing and it will be interesting to see if other Olympic organizing committees will integrate similar questions into their approach to sustainable sourcing.

Related to verification of compliance to the Code, no specific action will be required on the part of suppliers and licensees beyond reading and understanding the Code. However, once a contract has been awarded, LOCOG may use various methods to ensure practices are aligned with the requirements of the tendering process.  Methods may include using ‘Supplier Ethical Data Exchange’ (https://www.sedex.org.uk) to disclose supply chain information as well as independent audits.

Thanks in large part to the work at VANOC, sustainable procurement has become an embedded component of the Games’ overall sustainability strategy. The LOCOG Code has definitely built upon this good work. VANOC, however, requires all
of its Licensees to be audited on a regular basis. LOCOG’s approach to verification seems somewhat less stringent. Reeve
Consulting will be interested to see how this all plays out and how it will influence other Olympic organizing committees in years to come.

For more information and to review the LOCOG Code, please go to:
http://www.london2012.com/news/archive/2008-11/london-2012-publishes-sustainable-sourcing-code.php

For moreinformation and to review the VANOC Code, please go to:http://www.vancouver2010.com/dl/00/55/84/-/55842/prop=data/3o3aaq/55842.pdf

Reeve Consulting ‘Out and About’: World Conference on Sport and the Environment

Published April 6, 2009 Ethical Purchasing , Olympics , Out and About Leave a Comment
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On March 30th Reeve Consulting attended the World Conference on Sport and Environment which is organized every two years by the International Olympic Committee and the United Nations Environment Programme. The conference is designed to encourage strong social responsibility and reduce the impacts that sports events can have on the environment, particularly the Olympics.

This year the theme of the conference was ‘Innovation and Inspiration: Harnessing the Power of Sport for Change’. Reeve would like to note a few interesting points from the delegates of the conference:

Thomas Van Dyck, Senior Vice President – Financial Consultant, Senior Consulting Group RBC Wealth Management – SRI Wealth Management Group, USA delivered a compelling opening plenary presentation speaking to the critical importance of ethical and sustainable purchasing as a market mechanism to scale up a green and sustainability oriented economy.

Ann Duffy, Corporate Sustainability Officer, Vancouver 2010, and David Stubbs, Head of Environment and Sustainable Development, London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG 2012) highlighted how purchasing is a central tenant of their overall strategies to advance zero waste, carbon neutral commitments and other sustainability priorities. Reeve worked closely with Vancouver 2010 on the development of their Buy Smart program and was happy to see this program being profiled in Ann’s presentation.

Hon. Gordon Campbell, Premier of the Province of British Columbia, was impressive as he highlighted the importance of investing in a green economy and that we need to act now on the issue of climate change. He painted an optimistic vision of how we can capitalize on investments in green technologies and infrastructure to build a stronger and more productive economy in BC and beyond. Reeve Consulting shares this vision and it’s great to hear the premier of BC showing leadership on an international platform.

The conference was a great opportunity to network with likeminded firms, organizations and individuals. A couple of our observations from the conference include:

  • sport management professionals and other major event representatives at the conference are clearly hungry for details on sustainable purchasing
  • many we spoke with were looking for more tangible examples of actual program implementation / challenges and success
  • many sessions were struggling to get started and finished on time as there was a thirst for networking and folks    were keen to continue conversations outside of the sessions
  • some question periods were quite limited, which in some cases, stifled some potentially interesting discussions
  • hopefully day two will begin really start to unpeel the implementation onion and move from discussion of plans and management systems to actual results

Stakeholders Key to Ethical Purchasing Policy for Global Games

Published March 6, 2008 Ethical Purchasing , Olympics Leave a Comment

The recent negative publicity around Beijing 2008’s licensed merchandise is evidence that issues of Ethical and Sustainable Purchasing is on the rise as a key strategic issue in the Olympic movement.  Organising and bid committees are waking up to this reality and, as a result, are making strong commitments to ethical and sustainable purchasing. 

 Setting goals related to sustainability is an increasing norm among Organising and Bid Committees.  Procurement is seen as a leverage point through which such goals can be realized, and damaging PR issues can be avoided.  The wider Olympic family, such as Olympic sponsors as well as both the International and National Olympic Committees, are also seeing the importance of sustainable procurement to their strategy and PR programs.   

Vancouver 2010’s has made and continues to make considerable efforts through setting a new benchmark in ethical and sustainable purchasing within the Olympic movement.  London 2012 is monitoring these initiatives and also intending to meet its sustainability goals, in part, through procurement.  A recent article in the Financial Times cites Mayor Ken Livingstone as committing to hold its Olympic suppliers to ethical criteria.  The Tokyo 2016 Bid Committee has also included a commitment to sustainable procurement in its bid. 

Another positive trend that is emerging is organising committees and their stakeholders are taking a collaborative approach to these initiatives.  This is evidenced through the increased dialogue between NGO stakeholders and the various committees.   VANOC has engaged its stakeholders throughout the development of its Buy Smart program.  London is continually engaged with its stakeholders on everything from developing its sustainability plan to venue construction to procurement.  

The Olympic movement is moving into new territory as it strives to align with the greater community’s expectations around and commitment to sustainability and ethical and sustainable procurement will serve to raise the level of play.  Furthermore, those efforts that are based on collaborative approaches and stakeholder engagement will only ensure greater success.  

For more information on VANOC’s sustainability initiatives, please go to: http://www.vancouver2010.com/en/Sustainability 

For more information on London 2012, please go to: http://www.london2012.com/plans/sustainability/index.php 

The recent article in the Financial Times can be found at: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/bb32aa56-d82d-11dc-98f7-0000779fd2ac.html

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