F.5Encouraging sustainable living

F.5Encouraging sustainable living

Indicators relating to sustainable behaviours are generally showing positive trends (for example increasing volumes of household waste being sent for recycling). However, the Games provide a significant additional driver of behavioural change which is expected to have a supportive effect on attitudes towards sustainability and uptake of pro-environmental behaviours.

As behavioural change can take time to encourage and embed, data on the extent of this outcome area will also take time to emerge. However, the following diagram provides a summary of the intervention logic for this sub-theme.

Figure 5: Sustainable living summary logic model

(i)Legacy programmes and initiatives

Bio-Regional's One Planet Experience: an interactive exhibition centre located in the London Borough of Sutton which explained how the 2012 Games aims to be the greenest games ever, plus an additional exhibition located in the Athletes' Village and a programme of engagement with local residents (in Sutton) and athletes. This project also secured support from Coca-Cola;

Groundwork London's Transform Project: aimed to transform 20 derelict and neglected sites into local green spaces/community gardens, encourage and support residents to create less waste/recycle more, and increase levels of environmental volunteering and community involvement in the five host boroughs;¹²⁸

East Potential Inspired to Sustainable Living: provided practical advice and support to East Thames residents in Newham to increase understanding and practice of sustainable approaches to energy, water and waste. The project also worked with Focus E15 Foyer¹²⁹ residents to encourage healthy eating through the use of growing sites and workshops amongst disadvantaged young people;

Sustrans Active Travel Champions: provided training and support for volunteers to act as champions to encourage people to make healthier and more environmentally friendly travel choices in communities located close to Olympic venues in London and the South of England.

The ODA also contributed to activity in this sub-theme by providing funding to increase the capacity of the Mayor of London's RE:NEW and RE:FIT programmes in the host boroughs.

RE:NEW: a pan-London home energy efficiency scheme which aims to lower CO₂ emissions by offering households a visit from a home energy advisor who provides free energy efficiency advice and offers a range of easy energy improvement measures at no cost, such as energy saving light bulbs, radiator panels, aerated showerheads and loft and cavity wall insulation where appropriate;

RE:FIT: a programme offering a cost neutral way of improving the energy efficiency of public sector buildings. Participating organisations appoint an energy service company (ESCo) from the Mayor of London's RE:FIT framework to install energy efficiency measures and guarantee annual energy and cost savings over an agreed payback period resulting in a net saving over the longer-term.

In addition, LOCOG developed plans for communicating sustainability messages during Games-time,¹³⁰ this included:

Production of a 'Green Games Guide' for media and visitors containing practical information on how to take-up sustainable behaviours inspired by the Games, covering travel, recycling and energy efficiency;

Providing the media with information and resources on sustainability including key facts, briefing packs and guided tours;

Development of Walk in the Park, a trail for spectators running through the heart of the Olympic Park, including a series of story stations that tell the story of how the park was redeveloped and the creative thinking that went into staging the Games.

EDF was also the 2012 Games sustainability partner, promoting sustainability in a number of ways resulting in legacy outcomes.

(ii)Evidence available: Outputs & expenditure

As noted, Inspiring Sustainable Living has supported four individual projects. Across the four projects the scale of achievements to date has varied; however, the programme-level evaluators reported that prior to the Games delivery was progressing well in all cases (see Figure 5 ). It is important to note that in the case of East Potential, the audience they were attempting to influence is more disengaged than that for the other projects and designing interventions has been more of a challenge than initially expected. However, in late 2011, the project restructured its interventions and most of the recorded progress has been made since that time.

Figure 5: Outputs achieved to date by Inspiring Sustainable Living

Legacy programme/ initiative	Lead Organisation	Total Outputs/KPI achieved	Actual to date (lifetime target)	Time period
One Planet Experience	Bio-Regional	No. of visitors (to One Planet Experience Sutton)	1,055 (2,012)	To March 2012
Transform	Groundwork London	No. of sites transformed	6 – complete 27 – in progress (50)	To March 2012
		No. of people directly engaged	2,015 (800)	To March 2012
Active Travel Champions	Sustrans	No. of travel champions recruited	125 (250)	To March 2012
		No. of beneficiaries reached	8,000 + (18,750)	To March 2012
Inspired to Sustainable Living	East Potential	No. of participants (environmental awareness)	21 (1,500)	To March 2012
		No. of participants (healthy eating)	30 (80)	To March 2012

Significant outputs are also expected to be achieved as a result of the ODA's contribution of £1.7 million to the GLA to invest in carbon reduction measures for local housing and schools in four host boroughs through the existing RE:NEW and RE:FIT programmes. This represents additional funding which would not have been available in the absence of the Games. The funding will be used to benefit at least 2,780 homes and 12 schools. At the time of drafting the rollout of the programme to homes was underway but actual figures could not yet be confirmed; however, the 12 schools had been selected. Work was progressing on schedule and the schools element was expected to complete in September 2012 and the homes element by December 2012. The target is for 1,300 tonnes of CO₂ savings to be achieved, this is made up of 800 tonnes from homes as a result of the installation of simple energy efficiency measures, loft and cavity wall installation and 500 tonnes¹³¹ from schools through the installation of lighting and heating measures.

EDF's promotion of sustainability resulted in the recruitment of around 1 million people to Team Green Britain, an online community which aimed to reduce their carbon footprint ahead of 2012. In addition, 6.5 million young people from 15,800 schools were engaged with the Pod, EDF Energy’s programme for greener schools, part of the London 2012 education programme

(iii)Evidence available: Evaluation and research

A question to assess the influence of the Games, and its sustainability commitments, on the adoption of sustainable behaviours and attitudes was included in the specially commissioned host boroughs residents survey (see Appendix C). Of those who responded to this question, around one-fifth (21%) reported that the Games had prompted them to make a change, most commonly increased recycling or protection of their local environment.

(iv)Conclusions: Outcomes and additionality

The available data shows that the Inspiring Sustainable Living projects have been largely successful in engaging with their target groups which is a step towards achieving positive outcomes. However, monitoring reports show that projects have recognised the difficulties of both securing behavioural change and collecting evidence to demonstrate this achievement. At present, outcome evidence is limited due to the fact that evaluation has yet to take place.

(v)Progress in answering the research questions

To what extent and in what ways did the Games inspire people to live more sustainably, and what were the benefits of this?

There is encouraging evidence that a significant number of people have participated in Games-related sustainability projects. However, at present there is insufficient evidence to demonstrate the outcomes of this engagement in terms of adoption of sustainable behaviours and the resulting benefits of this change. It is expected that further evidence will be available as an input to Report 5. More generally, the survey of East London residents found that 21% of those who were aware of the sustainability commitments connected to the Games reported that they had been influenced by this, for example by recycling more. This is a positive outcome as it demonstrates that the sustainability messages connected to the Games are already encouraging local residents to adopt sustainable behaviours.

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