ABSTRACT
This chapter offers an overview of the environmental sustainability legacy bequeathed to Olympic host nations within the context of the International Olympic Committee’s recent reforms entitled Agenda 2020. It argues that Agenda 2020 should be understood, at least in part, as the IOC’s response to broader critiques of the Olympic Movement and that the Agenda is changing the ways in which sustainability is understood and practised within the planning of future games. However, through an analysis of Olympic Games Impact reports, it also argues that, in both policy and practice, Agenda 2020 falls short of guaranteeing the environmental sustainability of hosting the Olympics. The findings suggest that there is no causality between hosting the Games and improvements and the environmental sustainability capacity of the host nation. The ongoing challenge, then, is to establish new standards that might move Olympic hosting closer to a truly sustainable model.
