Climate Concerns Mount. Are Winter Olympics Becoming Unsustainable?
As snow seasons shorten, experts ask: Are Winter Olympics becoming unsustainable due to climate change and the shrinking geography of cold-weather zones?
Snow used to be the one thing Winter Games never had to “schedule.” Now it is a variable, and organisers are planning like every cold night counts. With Milano Cortina 2026, snowmaking crews are racing to build reliable race surfaces inside shrinking sub-zero windows, because warm spells arrive faster and linger longer.
Why The Host City List Is Starting To Shrink
The sustainability problem is not just “less snow.” It is the knock-on costs: reservoirs, pumps, snow guns, energy use, water demand, and the carbon footprint of moving athletes and fans. In Italy, venues are already leaning heavily on artificial snow, but even the best tech still needs cold air to work.
Researchers are also warning that the pool of climate-reliable Olympic sites is narrowing. One recent analysis of 93 possible locations found that, even assuming snowmaking, only about 45–55 remain climate-reliable by the 2050s, and the later-season Paralympics look even more exposed as March temperatures creep up. The IPCC similarly projects fewer past host regions with adequate snow reliability by 2050 and 2080 under higher warming pathways.
What The IOC And Hosts Are Doing About It
One idea now on the table: rotate the Games among a smaller set of proven winter hubs, and rethink timing. Hosts are also promising greener venues and operations under the IOC sustainability framework, but transport emissions and snowmaking demand still loom large.
The Bigger Question No One Can Snow-Make Away
If winters keep warming, “adaptation” starts looking like a permanent arms race. The Winter Olympics can survive, but only if emissions fall and host choices stay brutally realistic.
