By the end of this century, the outlook for the Winter Olympics is likely to look very different from the event’s traditional snowy image. Of the 21 cities that have hosted the Winter Games, only eight are projected to remain cold enough to reliably stage them by the end of the 21st century, according to the source report. That prospect underlines how quickly climate change is reshaping the conditions needed to hold the Games at all.
The challenges facing Milano Cortina 2026 already point to what future hosts may have to contend with more routinely. Organisers are having to produce artificial snow, create transport links across remote locations and build new infrastructure in difficult conditions. What is now a major logistical test for one edition of the Games may become a standard requirement for many more if temperatures continue to rise.
Questions over sustainability
The issue is not only whether the Winter Olympics can continue in their current form, but also whether the institutions around them are responding quickly enough to the climate crisis. In reply to a petition urging the International Olympic Committee to stop fossil fuel companies from sponsoring winter sports, IOC president Kirsty Coventry said the body is “having conversations in order to be better” in its approach to climate change.
That statement reflects recognition of the problem, but it also highlights the gap between public rhetoric and practical change. The environmental costs of staging the Winter Olympics are becoming harder to ignore, particularly when sponsors and organisers are tied to industries that increase emissions.
According to a New Weather Institute report, the fossil fuel company Eni, the carmaker Stellantis and ITA Airways, all sponsors of Milano Cortina 2026, are expected to add 40% to the Games’ carbon footprint. The report says that increase would be enough to melt 3.2 square km of snow cover and 20 million tonnes of glacier ice.
A growing test for the IOC
Those figures show why future hosts may need clearer and stronger sustainability standards. If the Winter Olympics are to remain viable in a warming world, the IOC will have to do more than acknowledge climate concerns. It will need to set firmer expectations for how the Games are powered, built, transported and financed.
The environmental impact of the event is no longer a side issue. It is becoming central to whether the Winter Olympics can keep taking place in the places and conditions that have traditionally defined them. As snow becomes less dependable and infrastructure more complex, the pressure on organisers will only increase.
The implication is straightforward: the Winter Olympics cannot rely on the assumptions of the past. If the Games are to survive the century in anything like their current form, their leaders will need to match the rhetoric on sustainability with concrete action before the snow runs out.
