Beijing Games battle between ostentation and sustainability

"The weather here is actually good for snowmaking,'' Pierpaolo Salusso said of the Zhangjiakou and Yanqing regions outside Beijing.

The regions will host skiing events at the Olympic Winter Games next month.

"Generally, it is dry and very cold.''

That would seem a prerequisite for hosting the Winter Olympics but the Italian Salusso, of the TechnoAlpin firm, is on-site to ensure the slopes are covered with enough snow for the Feb. 4-20 Games.

Beijing is the first city to hold both editions of the Games, after having the summer Olympics in 2008.

As of 14 years ago, no effort or expense is being spared by the hosts.

The Games have raised issues though with the difficulty of the coronavirus pandemic and China's human rights record being joined by environmental concerns with critics targeting Chinese gigantism and a lack of sustainability.

A lack of natural snow in the region means a huge amount of water and power is needed to host competitions but an artificial helping hand is hardly unique to Beijing.

"Artificial snow is not exactly an emergency means,'' said Yan Jiarong of the local organising committee.

"It is actually and objectively need to guarantee the quality of snow for major international events.''

The required water is only a small percentage of local usage and the power comes from a work in Gonghui, 75 kilometres from Zhangjiakou.

"For the first time in Olympic history the venues for the Games will be powered by 100 per cent green electricity,'' said one electrical engineer.

"It can fully meet energy demand for the 26 venues.''

The goal is for the Games to be carbon neutral with 85 per cent of Olympic transport powered by electricity or hydrogen while trees will be planted – as far afield as Mali and Senegal – to balance emissions.

But how green will the Games be really?

"Sustainability remains an elusive concept in the Olympic Games, and in mega-events more generally,'' said a study from international researchers published by 'nature' magazine.

"Every Olympic Games now claims to be sustainable, but all equally fail to provide a coherent definition or model for independent evaluation.''

A ban on international fans due to the pandemic will reduce CO2 emissions from travel while several venues from 2008 will be reused with swimming and basketball arenas welcoming curling and ice hockey.

And the massive Bird's Nest stadium in Beijing will again hold the opening and closing ceremonies.

The Games being 'simple' as officially claimed by organisers is also in contradiction to actual expenditure.

Beijing has invested billions for a new hall called the Ice Ribbon, the large ski jump and the bobsleigh and luge track, which was also criticised as "ostentatious" – not to mention the high-speed railway to the remote sites at the gates of Beijing.

The ski slopes were built in, of all places, the former Songshan National Nature Reserve, whose borders were unceremoniously redrawn in 2015 for this purpose, which outraged biologists.