Warming winters: How will the Winter Olympics adapt?

Updated Monday, 9 February 2026

The ongoing impact of climate change on one of the biggest sports events in the world...

The story of every Summer and Winter Olympics can be partially told through the challenges the organisers confront in the run-up to the Games. The Milano-Cortina games are no exception. There have been fears that a new cable car, which will transport spectators to the site of the Women’s Alpine skiing events in Cortina, will not be finished in time for the first events, whilst the new Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena in Milan may also be partly unfinished when the Games begin. In addition, warm weather through January limited the production of artificial snow to night-time only, when the temperatures drop sufficiently for the snow-making process to work, and jeopardised the adequate preparation of the pistes, courses and jumps that will host many of the skiing and snowboarding competitions.

This challenge in itself reflects the increasing prevalence of warmer weather in the Alps which is attributable to climate change, and since Cortina last hosted the Winter Olympics in 1956 the average February temperature in the town has increased by 3.6°C and there are 40 fewer freezing days throughout the winter season. As with every winter Olympics since the 1980 Games in Lake Placid, the Milan-Cortina organisers will need to rely on artificial snow to ensure there is minimal disruption to the schedule of events. The production of artificial snow, or ‘technical snow’ as it sometimes called, requires significant amounts of water and energy. For the Milano-Cortina games approximately 1.6m cubic metres of artificial snow will be made. This has required two new water reservoirs to be built, one in the Livigno Snow Park and the other next to the village of Bormio 2300m high-up in the mountains. In addition, 75 extra snow guns, that distribute the snow over the mountain courses, have also been installed.

The production of artificial snow requires significant amounts of water and energy.

Relying on artificial snow to supplement the deficit of natural snow creates an uncomfortable environmental paradox regarding the sustainability of such practices. Producing artificial snow generates carbon emissions and sits uneasily with the sustainability strategy of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) which aims to ensure that both the Summer and Winter Games work towards becoming carbon neutral and are aligned with the targets set by the Paris Agreement to keep global warming below 2°C. In comments made during the build-up to the Milano-Cortina games IOC President Kirsty Coventry confirmed that the IOC are considering moving the Winter Olympic Games forward to January as a means of reducing the challenges associated with warming climates and the need to mitigate these challenges by using technologies like artificial snowmaking.

An image of a competitive skier in a crouching position, taken from side-on. In the near background is a sloping, snowy hill. The skier is carrying sports equipment on their back.

The moving of the games to January is also one of the conclusions from a research note written by Daniel Scott, Robert Steiger and Madeleine Orr that describes in detail the impact of climate change on the Winter Olympics. In their note Scott, Steiger and Orr highlighted that if current warming trends continue only 45-55 of the 93 past and potential Winter Olympic venues would be sufficiently climate reliable in the 2050s to host the games even with advanced snow-making facilities. For the Para-Olympic Winter Games, which are generally held in March, the number of climate reliable venues would drop to between 17-31 in the 2050s. Alongside focusing on those venues that continue to offer the most reliable conditions they likewise suggested the possibility of moving the games to late January. Similarly, the Para-Olympic winter games could also be bought forward to an earlier February date or even combined with the Winter Olympics.

Adapting the scheduling of the Games is inevitable

Whichever solutions are considered climate change is having a significant impact on where and when both the Winter Olympics and Para-Olympics are held, and it is perhaps inevitable that adapting the scheduling and hosting of both games will have to be considered to accommodate the impact of a shorter ‘winter’ season. There is also one other intriguing aspect to consider about the impact of climate change on the Winter Olympics. In 2025 Seb Coe, President of World Athletics, supported an idea that cross-country running could be included in a future Winter Olympics programme. Cross-country running is a traditional winter sport in many countries and including it in the games could increase opportunities for athletes to participate from countries presently not well-represented at the Winter Olympics. Such an addition would however require a fundamental altering of the Olympic Charter which states that all sports at the Winter Olympics must take place on a snow or ice surface. If snow and ice is becoming sparser, and requires artificial alternatives, then cross-country mud might be the most environmentally sustainable surface available.

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