Over 3.5 million people will turn their attention to South Korea next Friday for the first Winter Olympics held in Asia in over 20 years. So what is #teamPARTNER keeping an eye out for (well, aside from the Opening Ceremony production)? With sustainability named as one of the three pillars of the Olympic Agenda, we are curious to see what steps are being taken to ensure this year's Winter Olympics are as green as ever.

The PyeongChang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Games (POCOG) announced a fundraising campaign as part of its efforts to offset carbon emissions. Proceeds from this campaign will purchase Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) to offset "1,596,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases to be emitted in preparing and operating the Games." Renewable energy will also play a large part in this year's Winter Games. Wind turbines erected in PyeongChang province (pictured below) can produce enough power to cover the electrical demands during the Games.

There are many other sustainable plans put in place for the 2018 Winter Games and the POCOG want to ensure the public can easily track each effort. A "performance index" shows up-to-date data on the sustainable efforts of the Winter Olympics. So while you are watching the opening ceremonies, check out what they are doing for the environment!

Go USA!
-Team PARTNER

Photo Credit: Olympics, PyeongChang 2018, mother nature network