Anchor: The United Nations Environment Programme, or UNEP, has released its assessment of the Beijing Olympic Games, giving Beijing a big green tick for fulfilling its promises.

It notes the Beijing Olympics has set records for large eco-friendly spectator sporting events and raised the bar for environmental standards.

Xiaohong has the details.

Reporter: The report, released on Wednesday, said the Beijing Olympics met, if not exceeded, many of its pledges on the environment.

According to the report, conducted by independently appointed assessors, the Chinese government made huge investments of up to 17 billion US dollars in public transport and renewable energy to reduce air pollution.

In return, the number of blue sky days increased drastically, from less than half the year in 2000 to over two-thirds in 2008.

Beijing also enjoyed an expansion of green space, with 8,800 hectares of greenery added to the city's landscape.

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director, hailed Beijing's efforts, saying Beijing raised the environmental bar and that the Games left a lasting legacy for the city.

"For the International Olympic Movement, it is an opportunity to have a more systematic baseline for which to judge the performance of future cities. And indeed, how the Olympic Movement can be an example that caring about the environment is not an adorn. It has become part of the identity of the host cities, and the identity of the Olympic Games."

Steiner said he hopes Beijing's achievements can provide key recommendations for the organizers of upcoming Games in Vancouver, London and Sochi, as well as other mass sporting events, when they strive to realize their goals and set the environmental bar ever higher.

Li Ganjie, Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection, stressed that Beijing's Olympic measures will still be effective in the future.

"These measures have not only ensured good air quality during the Beijing Olympic Games, but have greatly improved the living environment for the local residents. These measures will continue to be enforced to benefit the public."

The minister noted that nearly ten percent of the 4000-trillion-yuan government investment to alleviate the negative impact of the global financial crisis will be used for environmental protection and sustainable development.

Xiaohong, CRI News.