ABSTRACT
The Olympic and Paralympic Games are essentially an exercise in governance: they start as an idea of a few, before becoming an issue of national prestige and a passion of many. The Games involves a complex process of negotiations with a myriad of stakeholders at local, national, and international levels, investment of significant public and private resources, and interfering with the natural environment. This chapter addresses the governance of sustainability in the 2012 London Olympics. It first examines the conceptual evolution of the environmental debate and proceeds by tracing the development of environmental thinking and practices within the Olympic Movement and its practical application in the case of London.
