Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026
The Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games represent the pinnacle of sport. For many athletes, they are the highlight of a lifetime. Years of dedication, sacrifice, and passion culminating in a single moment on the world stage. These Games inspire millions, showcase human excellence, and celebrate the unifying power of sport. Protect Our Winters and fairplay deeply respect this significance and the role the Olympics & Paralympics play in global sporting culture.
At the same time, the Winter Games take place in landscapes that are already profoundly affected by climate change. Alpine regions are warming faster than the global average, snow reliability is declining, and ecosystems are under increasing pressure. This reality makes it essential that hosting the Games today means more than delivering successful competitions: It means taking responsibility for their environmental footprint and long-term legacy.
Mobility & Transport
Mobility remains one of the largest climate impacts of major sporting events. Milano Cortina 2026 spans a wide geographic area, increasing the risk of high emissions from travel and logistics. From a our perspective, future Games must prioritize low-emission mobility concepts:
- A clear shift from individual car traffic to public transport and rail
- Strong incentives for spectators, staff, and partners to use climate-friendly travel options
- Transparent reporting on transport-related emissions and concrete reduction targets
The Games should demonstrate how large-scale events can operate within planetary boundaries, not reinforce car-dependent infrastructure in already fragile mountain regions.
Sustainable Infrastructure & Legacy
We welcome the stated ambition to reuse existing venues and minimize new construction. However, this principle must be applied consistently and transparently. Any new or temporary infrastructure should:
- Serve a clearly defined long-term community purpose (in consultation with the local population)
- Avoid further logging, sealing of land and degradation of alpine ecosystems
- Be aligned with regional climate adaptation and resilience strategies
Sustainability cannot stop at construction standards; it must be measured by whether the infrastructure still makes sense decades after the Olympic & Paralympic flame is extinguished.
Sponsoring, Sportswashing & Future Integrity
Sponsorships are never value-neutral. When companies from the fossil fuel sector are visibly associated with the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, the risk of sportswashing becomes unavoidable. The positive imagery of elite sport, resilience, and unity is used to normalize and legitimize business models that are directly driving the climate crisis, and thereby threatening winter sport itself. The existing partnership between Milano Cortina 2026 and Eni highlights this contradiction. While the Games celebrate snow, ice, and alpine landscapes, fossil fuel companies continue to expand activities that accelerate their loss.
We strongly believe this tension cannot be resolved through communication strategies or selective sustainability narratives. It requires a structural shift. Milano Cortina 2026 should be understood as a turning point, not a precedent. Looking ahead to 2030 and beyond, the Olympic & Paralympics Movement must establish clear, binding sponsorship criteria that exclude companies whose core business depends on fossil fuel extraction and expansion.
If the Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games are to remain credible in a climate-constrained world, they must stop offering their platform for reputational laundering and instead align commercial partnerships with climate science, the Paris Agreement, and a just transition of energy systems. The future integrity of the Games and the future of winter sport depend on drawing this line clearly.
Waste Management & Resource Use
Mega events inevitably generate large volumes of waste. Milano Cortina 2026 must set a new benchmark by:
- Prioritizing waste avoidance over recycling alone
- Implementing circular systems for food, materials, and merchandising
- Eliminating single-use plastics wherever possible
- Ensuring full transparency around waste volumes and treatment
The Games should reflect the reality that resource efficiency is no longer optional but, rather, essential.
Beyond “Doing Less Harm”
While mitigation measures are crucial, the climate crisis requires more than reducing negative impacts. The Olympic & Paralympic Games offer a unique global platform to:
- Communicate climate science and solutions to a broad audience
- Empower athletes as credible voices for climate action
- Advocate for systemic change in sport, mobility, and energy systems
From our perspective, the Games should not only aim to be “less bad,” but actively contribute to accelerating the transition toward a climate-safe future.
Human rights & institutional responsibility
In addition, the issue of human rights is always present in various ways at major sporting events.
We currently view the planned involvement and presence of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency in the context of the Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games with extreme skepticism and strongly oppose it. ICE has been criticized for years for systematic human rights violations, including arbitrary detentions, family separations, and the criminalization of migration. Any cooperation with or visibility of such institutions contradicts the Olympic & Paralympic values of human dignity, inclusion, and international solidarity. The Olympic & Paralympic Games must be a space that connects people—not one that legitimizes fear, exclusion, or structural violence. Therefore, the Winter Games and all stakeholders must clearly and publicly distance themselves from institutions that violate human rights!
A Constructive Path Forward
Protect Our Winters and fairplay believe that criticism and appreciation can coexist. We celebrate the athletes, the competitions, and the power of the Olympic & Paralympic movement to inspire. At the same time, we call on organizers, governing bodies, sponsors, and policymakers to ensure that mistakes and shortcomings from Milan Cortina are not repeated in the future and that Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games become a credible example of climate responsibility in winter sport.
The future of the Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games depends on the future of winter itself. If we want athletes to continue chasing their Olympic & Paralympic dreams on snow and ice, we must ensure that these environments are protected and not sacrificed in the process.
