Fairtrade at London Olympic and Paralympic Games 2012

The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be the ‘fairest’ games ever, as millions of visitors will be served Fairtrade certified tea, coffee, chocolate, sugar, bananas, wine and oranges across all locations, the Fairtrade Foundation reports. An estimated 10 million Fairtrade bananas from the Windward Islands and South America will be eaten, 7.5 million cups of Fairtrade tea served, 14 million cups of coffee carrying the Fairtrade Mark drunk, and 10 million Fairtrade certified sachets of sugar grown by sugar farmers in Belize enjoyed. This equates to an estimated Fairtrade premium of £ 100,000 (about 123,500 euros) that will be generated over the six week period of the Games for communities in developing countries to invest in social, environmental and economic developmental projects, such as sports fields, schools, clean water drinking holes and medical clinics.

London is also the world’s largest Fairtrade City, an accolade gained in 2008. This means that across the capital, 20 boroughs have Fairtrade status and have met the five Fairtrade goals, including council support for Fairtrade and availability of Fairtrade products in retail and catering outlets. Five of these boroughs are London 2012 Host boroughs. Across London, almost 1,000 retailers and 600 catering outlets now sell a range of products which carry the famous Fairtrade Mark, including iconic London institutions like the Barbican, the British Library,the Horniman Museum, the London Eye, the National Theatre, the Royal Festival Hall, St Martin in the Fields and the Houses of Parliament.

The decision to serve Fairtrade food is part of the London 2012 Food Vision, which sets the sustainability standards for catering at the event, during which around 14 million meals will be served. The Fairtrade Foundation is a member of Sustain, an alliance of NGOs and not-for-profit organisations which has been advocating that the 2012 Games food promotes health and sustainability, wins new business for sustainable producers, and creates an important food legacy. The Fairtrade Foundation is launching a Team Fair Campaign. More information is available here: http://step.fairtrade.org.uk/get-involved/view/team-fair.