Former London Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell and U.K. Home Affairs Select Committee Chair Keith Vaz yesterday “held private talks” with LOCOG CEO Sebastian Coe, who “was asked to justify the [US$11.2M] deal with the Dow Chemical Company, which has been accused of failing to address one of last century's worst corporate human-rights disasters,” according to Nina Lakhani of the London INDEPENDENT. Dow officials “will be invited to attend further talks next week after Lord Coe failed to satisfy MPs that Dow does meet London 2012's ethical code.” Dow is the 100% owner of Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), which “at the time was the majority shareholder of Union Carbide India Limited the company responsible for the 1984 gas disaster in Bhopal, India, which survivor groups say killed 25,000 people.” Dow's contract gives it "exclusive marketing rights" to the main stadium in east London, and its name “will be adorned on the ‘wrap’ around the stadium, guaranteeing the company a prominent profile next year.” Vaz said, "The best course of action is for Dow to withdraw until the issues in Bhopal have been resolved, but I am happy to hear what they have to say. This is not the right kind of sponsorship for the world's greenest Olympics." Lakhani reports the meeting “came amid growing pressure from a cross-party campaign to make LOCOG reverse its decision.” A LOCOG spokesperson said that Dow “had won the contract after an open and competitive process” (London INDEPENDENT, 11/8).
TEAMING UP: The FINANCIAL TIMES' Vanessa Kortekaas reports LOCOG officials have indicated that they “will be unable to meet their sustainability targets if sponsors fail to take on some of the burden.” LOCOG, which has “dubbed London 2012 the ‘greenest games ever,’ has pledged that none of the waste produced during the 77-day period of the games will go directly to landfill and at least 70 per cent of it will be reused, recycled or composted.” But LOCOG Head of Sustainability David Stubbs said that the committee “would not achieve its green pledges without co-operation from corporate sponsors.” Stubbs: “We know we can’t do this on our own.” Kortekaas notes LOCOG is now “counting on its 55 sponsors to help deliver what it promised, and a commitment from Coca-Cola to recycle the PET plastic used in drinks bottles at the games will nudge the committee towards one of its flagship sustainability goals” (FINANCIAL TIMES, 11/8).
