The Olympics jumps the first hurdles in race to be sustainable

Among the triumphs of the 2020 Tokyo Games were a few sustainability firsts – from 100% recycled materials in the medals to broad use of renewable energy – that offer lessons in sustainable leadership to other organizations.

The Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 will be remembered for many things and not only that they were successfully staged within difficult conditions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Primarily, there was the spirit of human perseverance, of solidarity among competitors and of mutual respect. And there were obviously also the medals. For many athletes, the ultimate prize of winning gold, silver or bronze kept them motivated and drove their long preparation.

However, there was something particularly special about the medals – and that is that they were the first Olympic Medals to be produced entirely from 100% recycled materials. And not just any recycled materials: the 5,000 medals handed out were created by extracting metals from used electronic…