SYDNEY Olympic organisers, who promised to host a genuine "green Olympics", received a lukewarm performance rating yesterday from an environmental watchdog.
A 41 page report by Green Games Watch 2000 gave Sydney a mark of five out of 10, or "barely a pass for the city's progress in implementing its bid commitments.
The key concerns surrounded pollution, particularly air and water quality, and waste.
The Sydney Games watchdog used the plight of a threatened frog species to highlight its call for improvement.
As part of its successful bid, Sydney detailed its environmental targets, focusing on the design and building of the athletes village, which will provide accommodation for 15,000 competitors and officials.
In the first in a series of annual reviews, the group gave a mixed rating for the construction authority responsible for building Olympic facilities.
In terms of energy conservation, the authority had performed well, but its record for water conservation, minimising waste, and air, water and soil quality was poor to very poor.
