From the IOC Sport and Environment Commission to Sustainability and Legacy Commission: Discussing the prospects for the Environmental Sustainability (ES) legacy of Olympic Games host nations under Agenda2020

In 2014, the IOC Sport and Environment Commission (SEC) was renamed the Sustainability and Legacy Commission (SLC) with new Agenda 2020 recommendations. This paper offers a discussion on the stimulants behind the vision of Agenda 2020 with emphasis on the failures of past Olympic editions to meet Environmental Sustainability (ES) targets. We highlight the engrenage dynamic that marks the post-event Olympic Games legacy as that relates to capacity for ES policies. We follow with an account on the changes that Agenda 2020 has brought and their impact on the environmental sustainability (ES) commitments that a prospective Olympic host nation can make. The closing section suggests that Agenda 2020 be a form of enhanced engrenage. However, the post-event ES capacity continues to depend upon the assessment that it receives on a range of indicators as well as the role played by the general level of commitment on the political and economic modernization of the host country and the unforeseen intervening variable of an economic downturn.