The Organising Committee has been working towards the implementation of the ISO 20121 standard with the goal of ensuring more consistent sustainability efforts at all stages of next year's Olympics and Paralympics, from the preparation phase until after the Games have ended.

From May through to August 2019, all relevant Tokyo 2020 activities were said to have been "exhaustively" assessed by the British Standards Institution, an ISO certification body, resulting in the certification announced today.

The certification covers all operations of Tokyo 2020.

"Sustainability has always been an important concept for Tokyo 2020, and this acquisition of ISO 20121 certification proves that sustainability is embedded in all of our management processes," Tokyo 2020 chief executive Toshirō Mutō said.

"This will help us achieve our goal of a truly sustainable Games, and we hope it will provide greater opportunity for the implementation of ISO 20121 at other future large-scale events."

Going forward, Tokyo 2020 says it will build on the certification as it continues to take the necessary initiatives to ensure sustainability of the Olympics and Paralympics.

ISO 20121 is an international standard governing processes and systems used to ensure the sustainable planning and delivery of events.

It was based on the earlier BS (British Standard) 8901, a sustainable event management standard developed for London 2012.

ISO 20121 addresses the environmental, social and economic impact of events.

In line with the Olympic Agenda 2020, the Host City Contract - Operational Requirements require every Organising Committee for the Olympic Games to obtain the ISO 20121 certification, starting from Pyeongchang 2018 onwards.

Tokyo 2020 published the second version of its sustainability plan in June 2018, under the guiding principle "Be better, together - for the planet and the people".