• ‘I think there’s no future for the Winter Olympics,’ says Carmen de Jong, a professor of hydrology at the University of Strasbourg
• Continued high greenhouse gas emissions could dramatically reduce viable Olympic host sites and threaten winter sports more broadly, warns Daniel Scott, who led a recent study on climate suitability for the International Olympic Committee
• ‘The planning challenges are immense. What used to be predictable winter windows are now highly variable,’ says Timothy Kellison of Florida State University

ISTANBUL

As athletes carve down Alpine slopes and compete on ice in northern Italy, the 2026 Winter Olympics are unfolding against a stark scientific warning: a warming planet is steadily eroding the very conditions that make winter sports possible.

Winters across Europe and beyond are growing shorter and warmer, forcing organizers to rely heavily on artificial snow and raising urgent questions about the long-term viability of the Games.

Researchers say the environmental pressures facing host regions – from rising temperatures to water scarcity – are no longer hypothetical but immediate.

“I think there’s no future for the Winter Olympics,” Carmen de Jong, a professor of hydrology at the University of Strasbourg, told Anadolu, pointing to rising temperatures, water scarcity, and mounting environmental risks in host regions.

Timothy Kellison, an associate professor of sport management at Florida State University, offered a more measured but still sobering assessment, saying the “future is challenging.”

Their warnings come as the Milan-Cortina Games unfold under unusually warm conditions, with organizers increasingly dependent on artificial snow to maintain competition standards. Unlike past decades, when Alpine venues relied largely on natural snowfall, snowmaking has become central to staging winter events.

Climate data underscores the shift. According to Climate Central, February temperatures in Cortina have risen 3.6C (6.4F) since the town first hosted the Winter Olympics in 1956.

Shrinking pool of viable hosts

Researchers say warming trends are steadily shrinking the number of locations capable of reliably hosting the Winter Olympics.

Daniel Scott, a professor at Canada’s University of Waterloo, led a recent study that analyzed climate conditions at potential host locations for the International Olympic Committee (IOC). “When the IOC asked us to look at those 93 locations, we found between 45 and 55 would still be climate reliable for the Winter Olympics,” he told Anadolu.

Scott described the finding as “a bit of good news,” noting that earlier research limited to past host cities suggested only 12 to 14 would remain suitable.

The outlook is more concerning for the Winter Paralympics, typically held in March when temperatures are warmer.

Only 17 to 31 of the 93 locations were considered climate reliable for the Winter Paralympics, placing them at higher climate risk, he said.

From natural snowfall to manufactured winter

Artificial snow has become the backbone of modern Winter Games logistics. Beijing 2022 faced global criticism for using entirely machine-made snow, but experts say Alpine venues now face similar realities.

“Cortina also made 100% artificial snow,” de Jong said. “There’s a snow drought. There was no natural snow. It was too warm to fabricate snow until mid-January.”

Despite its high-altitude setting, the Cortina area required more than 81 million cubic feet (3 million cubic yards) of artificial snow, according to Climate Central.

Snowmaking itself is increasingly constrained by warming temperatures and water shortages.

“If it’s so warm, the real problem is that you have such a small timeframe to make snow,” de Jong said. “And then the problem is: where do you get the water from if there’s a drought?”

Scott noted that snowmaking has been part of Olympic planning since the 1980 Games in Lake Placid and is now essential. Without it, potential host sites by the 2050s would shrink to just four.

But Kellison cautioned that snowmaking is no silver bullet.

“You still need cold temperatures to make it, and as winters warm, those windows shrink.”

He added that the environmental costs are substantial: “The environmental costs can also be significant. Snowmaking is water-intensive and energy-intensive.”

Snowmaking has also intensified pressure on fragile mountain ecosystems, particularly water systems already strained by drought.

De Jong cited field observations and data from the Boite River in Cortina showing water withdrawals exceeding permitted levels during low-flow winter periods. Similar concerns have emerged in Livigno, another host town.

“Rivers that are already suffering severely from drought and are low-level should not be touched,” she warned, noting risks including freezing, fish die-offs and rising pollution concentrations.

Organizers argue reservoirs built for snowmaking reduce river stress by storing water ahead of time. De Jong disputes this, saying many reservoirs were completed too late to capture seasonal flows and often rely on pumping water uphill from valleys.

Energy sources further complicate the sustainability equation. Scott noted that the 2030 Winter Games in France will rely largely on nuclear, wind and solar power, reducing emissions.

Salt Lake City’s 2034 Games, however, may face a higher carbon footprint.

“They still have coal in their electricity grid in that part of the US. So any amount of snowmaking that’s made there is going to have a carbon footprint of 16 to 20 times what it is in France.”

What the future holds

Climate change is also altering conditions on the slopes, with implications for athlete safety and performance.

“The most obvious is a less reliable natural snowpack, but the deeper issues concern athlete safety and sport quality. Athletes are reporting more dangerous conditions – artificial snow creates harder, icier surfaces,” Kellison said.

He added that unpredictable winters shorten training seasons and increase risk-taking.

“We’re also seeing major events cancelled or rescheduled at the last minute due to weather instability … The planning challenges are immense. What used to be predictable winter windows are now highly variable.”

Scott warns that continued high greenhouse gas emissions could dramatically reduce viable Olympic host sites and threaten winter sports more broadly.

“The number of lost potential Olympic and Paralympic sites goes up substantially, so we’re left with fewer and fewer places, and that puts, more broadly, winter sport at risk.”

Professional ski tours are already experiencing cancellations and disruptions, he noted. Future host locations may still deliver successful Games, but unpredictability will grow.

“We just hope that the years that each of these places host the Games, they have an average winter for those locations.”

For Kellison, safeguarding winter sports requires both immediate and long-term action.

“Dramatically reducing emissions to slow warming and being more strategic about where we hold winter events – in an ideal world, we would prioritize locations that can actually support winter sports sustainably,” he said.