OREANDA-NEWS. July 23, 2012. BP’s Target Neutral London 2012 programme has now reached over 200,000 sign ups. With sign-ups increasing daily, ticketholders, athletes and Olympic Partners are getting behind London 2012’s ambition to lower the carbon footprint of the Games.

BP Target Neutral is offering to offset the carbon footprint of all ticketed spectator journeys to and from the Olympic and Paralympic Games for free. It’s simple and easy to do – ticketholders just need to visit the BP Target Neutral website www.bptargetneutral.com/London2012 or sign up through the Facebook app http://on.fb.me/BPtargetneutral to have the carbon emissions of their travel to London offset for free.

Team GB, ParalympicsGB and a number of Olympic Committees around the world have already offset their carbon footprint to the Games. Turkey has signed up to BP’s Target Neutral London 2012 programme, and BP is also working with Team USA, Trinidad & Tobago, Azerbaijan, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Angola and Georgia.

As a leading ‘not for profit’ provider of services to reduce, replace or neutralise carbon emissions from transport, BP is working with the Games organisers and other London 2012 partners on how Target Neutral can help offset the carbon footprint of the Games. BP Target Neutral has offset travel emissions of the 70,000 volunteers for London 2012 and is delighted to be working with a number of partners including Samsung, Dow, Sainsbury’s, Freshfields, General Electric and Heineken.

Andrea Abrahams, Global Director For Target Neutral said: “We believe this mass offset opportunity will raise awareness about the challenge we all face in living more sustainably and will engage people who might never before have thought about the carbon impact of their travel choices. Through collective action, individual and companies can work together to make a real difference to the environment and we hope this will prove to be a legacy for future events.”

BP is working with six inspiring athlete ambassadors (Jessica Ennis, Lizzie Armitstead, William Sharman and Paralympic athletes Richard Whitehead, Shelly Woods, Stefanie Reid) on their journey to the Games, showing them how to make changes in their everyday lives as well as the fuel to get around whilst training and offsetting their carbon emissions from driving.

There are opportunities for spectators to learn about Target Neutral and sign-up to offset their carbon in the Olympic Park at BP’s interactive showcase “Walk in the Olympic Park”. Furthermore, athletes from around the world can sign-up to offset their carbon at the Athlete’s Village Target Neutral Pod.

Seb Coe, Chair of LOCOG said: “Sustainability underpins all of our plans – and has done since the bid. BP’s Target Neutral scheme is a fantastic opportunity for millions to offset their carbon footprint and help London 2012 to inspire positive social, economic and environmental change for the future.”

As the London 2012 official Carbon Offset Partner, BP Target Neutral will be providing the administration and funds to offset the carbon emissions from Games-related travel of ticketholders. The more people that sign up, the more Target Neutral can support low carbon development projects worldwide.

All carbon emissions will be offset from a portfolio of six carbon offset projects that have been chosen to represent each continental region participating in the Games. These projects have been carefully selected and are compliant with ICROA Code of Best Practice.