- The Olympic cauldron is being lit with green hydrogen.
- This is the first time a clean fuel is being used to light the cauldron at the games.
The flame of the Tokyo Olympic cauldron at the National Stadium is being powered by hydrogen, a first in the history of the games. Flames have been powered mainly by propane since the introduction of the first modern cauldron in the 1928 games in Amsterdam. However, unlike propane, hydrogen does not produce carbon dioxide when burnt. The hydrogen fueling the Tokyo cauldron is produced by a clean energy powered factory in the Fukushima prefecture.
The London Games in 2012 had planned to deploy a low-carbon cauldron for the games but couldn’t finish the design in time and had to use a mix of propane and butane. In Rio 2016, Brazillian authorities utilised a smaller cauldron to reduce the fuel amount.
Canadian architect Oki Sato designed the Tokyo Olympic cauldron. The sun-inspired orb, which unfolds like a flower’s petals, was lit at 11:48 p.m by Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka signalling the official start of the games.