At the 7th World Conference on Sport and Environment held in Beijing, WWF says it supports more sustainable practices and legacy building for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Game.

The three-day conference was attended by Olympic organizers, athletes, NGOs, sponsors and sporting industry experts and focuses on the environmental issues of the Beijing Olympics as well as future Games.

Speaking at the conference on the One Planet Olympics approach, WWF China Country Representative Dermot O'Gorman called upon Olympic organizers to continue their focus on sustainability and increasingly use the Games as a way to inspire more progress on broader environmental issues within China. By working with the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, WWF has implemented projects like the use of certified timber in the construction of an Olympics Village kindergarten, and support of an Olympic Gymnasium solar panel energy programme. Both sides are working to continue these green initiatives long after closing of the 2008 Olympics.

"Taking part in the 7th World Conference, it is obvious to me that so many are working on innovative and practical solutions towards ‘green' Olympics in Beijing," says O'Gorman. "WWF wants to see our initiatives at the Olympics make a long lasting impression on China that everyone can do a part to protect our natural resources and be energy efficient."

Through its Go for Gold global campaign, WWF is also calling Olympic athletes to commit to a carbon neutral trip for the Beijing Games by donating the equivalent of the carbon cost of their flight to a Gold Standard climate-change offset project.

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