All that said, the The Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics is estimated to cause the loss of 5.5 square kilometers of snowpack and 34 million metric tons of glacial ice. Without the carbon emissions caused by the event’s three major sponsors, those numbers would have been much lower: 2.3 square kilometers of snowpack and 14 million metric tons of frozen snow.
That’s according to a January report from the New Weather Institute, which worked with Scientists for Global Responsibility and Champions for Earth to determine the environmental impact of the 2026 Winter Olympics and whether or not canceling the Games was harmful to the winter sports most affected by climate change. What they found was that while the Games themselves caused significant carbon emissions, the carbon emissions caused by three of the event’s major sponsors—Italian energy company Eni, automaker Stellantis, and ITA Airways—could give the event a larger carbon footprint.
Promoting those companies at the Games, the report’s authors say, is estimated to increase carbon emissions “due to increased sales of high-carbon goods and services” provided by those sponsors.
The report states that Eni is responsible for more than half of the total emissions delivered by the top three donors, followed by Stellantis and ITA. While acknowledging the difficulties involved in obtaining firm estimates of corporate carbon emissions and the size of Olympic sponsorship deals, the report states that the additional business those companies would benefit from their involvement in the Games could result in carbon dioxide emissions equivalent to 1.3 million. That’s 40 percent more than the Olympics straight line, which is estimated at 930,000 metric tons.
This means an additional loss of 3.2 square kilometers of snowpack and 20 million metric tons of glacial ice, adding to the 2.3 square kilometers of snow and 14 million metric tons of ice already affected by the Games themselves. Put another way, the report says that the Winter Olympics are contributing to the decline of its performance and the sports it celebrates.
In response to the findings, an Eni representative told WIRED that the report provided a biased estimate of the company’s contribution to the production generated by the Games. The company also noted that “more than 90 percent of the fuel supplied by Eni to power the Games is obtained from renewable raw materials,” adding that its support for the Games is mainly focused on the provision of energy products and services and does not generate additional climate change activities.
ITA responded to a request for comment by noting that “sustainability is at the core of ITA Airways’ development strategy” and pointed to its new fuel-efficient vehicles and sustainable aviation fuel systems. The Milano Cortina 2026 Foundation, contacted directly about the environmental impact of the Games, declined to comment. Stellantis did not respond to requests for clarification on its sustainability plans related to the Olympics.
Winter sports are they are becoming increasingly rare due to their vulnerability to the effects of global warming. The numbers prove the emergency that is already underway. In the last five years, Italy, the host country of the Games, has lost 265 ski resorts. France, which will host the 2030 Winter Olympics, has seen more than 180 resorts in the Alps shutter. Fifty-plus ski lifts and cable cars are closed in Switzerland. With each iteration, the Games become more dependent on artificial ice.
Of the 93 places with the infrastructure needed to host the Winter Olympics, only 52 of them will be “climate reliable” in the 2050s if global emissions continue at roughly their current rates, according to a 2024 study commissioned by the International Olympic Committee. In the 2080s, that number dropped to 46.
