We have nearly completely the accreditation process to assess how sustainable ParalympicsGB has become. We have been focusing on the areas on food, waste and transport to reduce the impact on the environment, focusing specifically on the University of Bath as the venue for of our Preparation Camps between 2010 and 2012.
The carbon footprint and water usage numbers are just in for the 2012 camp, so we are reporting them to you here.
Travel was the main component of the Camp’s carbon footprint.
2012 Travel Greenhouse Gas Emissions Breakdown
| Travel Emissions Breakdown | tonnes CO2eq |
| Travel to and from Camp | 27.52 |
| Community Day | 0.58 |
| Day trips to Bath centre | 0.12 |
| Intra-Camp bus | 0.09 |
| Total | 28.24 |
To give you an idea, this is about the same as driving 100,000 miles in a Mini coupe or flying 10 people from London to Sydney return.
Total Carbon footprint for 2012 camp:
| USAGE | tonnesCO2eq | % |
| TRAVEL | 28.24 | 71% |
| WASTE | 6.17 | 16% |
| ACCOMMODATION | 2.81 | 7% |
| CATERING | 2.30 | 6% |
| TOTAL | 39.51 | 100% |
Total water usage within the camp amounts to (m3) 231.21 m3. This equates to about 0.243m3 per attendee per day. To put this into perspective, an average household of 4 people uses 0.452m3 per day in the UK, but this is only for the household or the individuals involved. Once you consider the additional water usage for the Sports Village you can appreciate that the figure of 0.243 m3 is a very good figure and demonstrates very water efficient accommodation, a well monitored and efficient catering and sports service provision at the University of Bath.
| 0.971 | m3 water per attendee |
| 0.243 | m3 water per day per attendee |
| 0.452 | Av m3 water use in a 4 person hh per day (Source: Consumer Council for Water) |
| 0.034 |
m3 water use per day per attendee for accommodation (assumptions average stay 4 nights, 238 attendees) |
So what happens next? BP, as part of the Target Neutral Campaign, has offset the entire carbon footprint (calculated by EDF Energy) of the camp. Our measurement of water usage is very unusual for an event and benchmarks for future camp targets. We are hoping to have a final assessment on our sustainability accreditation from the Council for Responsible Sport very soon.