From infrastructure debates to athlete-led climate campaigns, the Winter Games in the Italian Alps highlighted the urgent need to align winter sports with a changing climate. Milano–Cortina 2026 showed both the power and the challenges of hosting the Winter Games in a warming world.
Key takeaways:
+ Disruptive construction and environmental concerns from residents highlighted the need for stronger sustainability standards and greater transparency in Olympic and Paralympic planning.
+ Athletes and civil society — including Protect Our Winters (POW) chapters across Europe — mobilised to ensure the voices of mountain communities were heard.
+ As we look towards the French Alps 2030 Games, the lessons from Milano–Cortina offer a critical opportunity to align the future of the Winter Games with climate science and the protection of mountain ecosystems.
Winter sports we love — in a changing climate
For a few weeks, the world’s attention turned to the Italian Alps. The Milano–Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games brought athletes, fans and winter sports enthusiasts together in the mountains — a landscape that has shaped generations of skiers, snowboarders and alpine communities.
But these Games also unfolded against a changing reality. The Alps are warming at roughly twice the global average, making the future of winter sports increasingly uncertain.
For many within the winter sports community, this created mixed feelings. The Olympic and Paralympic Games remain a celebration of athletic excellence and international cooperation. But they also raise important questions about sustainability, governance and the long-term legacy of hosting major sporting events in sensitive mountain ecosystems.
As highlighted by European and international media, including an analysis by BBC Sport, there’s a bigger question at play for everyone involved in the Olympics: how can the Winter Games adapt to a rapidly changing climate?
Why these Games raised sustainability concerns
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) committed to integrating social and environmental sustainability into every stage of Olympic planning through Olympic Agenda 2020+5.
Yet, several developments for the Milano–Cortina Games raised questions about whether these commitments were fully met.
One of the most debated projects was the construction of a new bobsleigh track in Cortina, despite proposals to use existing facilities elsewhere in Europe. The project required costly public investments as well as land and forest clearing. It also became a focal point of debate around Olympic sustainability, highlighted both by Protect Our Winters Italy and by international media coverage.
Concerns were also raised about environmental oversight. Investigations reported that a number of Olympic projects may have proceeded without full environmental impact assessments.
A chairlift built on top of an active landslide became a striking example of the geological risks that large infrastructure projects face in mountainous terrain, alongside the environmental pressures of new transport systems and snowmaking.
Building in the Alps and other mountain ranges will only become more precarious as temperatures rise. Research from the POW Science Alliance shows that climate change is already shrinking the number of regions capable of reliably hosting the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Together, these debates underline a central challenge: ensuring that the future of winter sports events aligns with the protection of the mountain ecosystems on which they depend.
Athletes and communities are speaking out
Athletes themselves are increasingly using their platforms to highlight what is at stake. Olympic alpine skier Lindsey Vonn spoke about witnessing the impacts of climate change throughout her career:
“As a ski racer I have seen first-hand what global warming has done. Since I was nine years old I trained on glaciers — most of the glaciers I used to ski on have now practically disappeared.”
Australian Olympic freestyle skier, and POW athlete Jackson Harvey has also warned about the implications for younger generations:
“If we don’t act now, the next generation — and the one after that — may not have these opportunities at all.”
In the lead-up to the Games, athletes and civil society organisations mobilised to bring these concerns to decision-makers. Norwegian freeride skier and POWs athlete Nikolai Schirmer launched the Ski Fossil Free campaign, calling on the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) and the IOC to address the role of fossil fuel sponsorships in winter sports. In February 2026, Schirmer delivered a petition with more than 21,500 signatures to the IOC.
“This is the way we make change happen — actionable demands backed by voices of the community.”
In addition, Swedish crosscountry skier and POW athlete Björn Sandström launched For Future Games, an initiative bringing together athletes and citizens calling on the IOC to protect the future of the Olympic and Paralympic Games by ending fossil fuel sponsorships.
Before and during the Olympics, POW chapters across Europe worked alongside communities, researchers and policymakers to advocate for more sustainable Games and contribute to public debate.
In Italy, POW joined the Open Olympics civil society coalition, which produced participatory monitoring reports analysing the environmental and governance aspects of the Games. Initiatives, such as Walkscapes in Anterselva and Cortina, brought together residents and scientists to document the impacts of Olympic infrastructure projects on Alpine landscapes and communities.
These insights were later compiled into analyses by POW Italy, such as the Lessons learned from Milano–Cortina survey and a position paper, Milano Cortina 2026: A missed opportunity. What can we learn for the future?, which outlines environmental and governance recommendations for future host regions. The position paper was delivered to the French National Olympic Committee (NOC) in July 2025.
Preparing for the next Games: France’s French Alps 2030
As Milano–Cortina 2026 comes to a close, attention is already turning to the 2030 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games in the French Alps.
As our colleagues from the International Commission for the Protection of the Alps (CIPRA) have noted, “after the Games is before the Games” — meaning that the lessons from one Olympic cycle must immediately inform the planning of the next.
POW France has already begun working to ensure that the lessons learned from Milano–Cortina inform the planning of the next Games. Together with scientists and environmental organisations, POW France proposed 17 measures for more sustainable Olympic Games while engaging directly with institutions, including the Élysée Palace, the French NOC, the IOC and government representatives.
They also launched the Olympic Citizens’ Convention, bringing together randomly selected residents to discuss the impacts and legacy of the 2030 Games through participatory workshops and citizen recommendations. In parallel, POW France partnered with Savoie Mont Blanc University to conduct the first independent survey of citizens’ perceptions of the 2030 Olympics, gathering insights from more than one thousand participants.
Through these initiatives, the objective is simple: ensuring that future Winter Games are shaped through transparent decision-making, strong environmental standards and meaningful citizen participation.
What needs to change
The experience of Milano–Cortina highlights several priorities for future Olympic Games.
First, host cities must ensure meaningful public participation in Olympic planning, giving local communities a real voice in decisions affecting their environment and livelihoods.
Second, the IOC must strengthen accountability for its sustainability commitments, ensuring that the standards set out in Olympic Agenda 2020+5 are fully implemented and monitored.
Third, greater transparency around Olympic infrastructure projects is needed. A public transparency portal could allow citizens to track project costs, environmental assessments and long-term legacy commitments.
Finally, the Olympic movement must address the role of fossil fuels in winter sports. Fossil fuels are the primary driver of climate change — and the biggest threat to the future of winter sports and the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. Ensuring that fossil fuel sponsorships and partnerships have no place in winter sports is a necessary step to protecting the future of these disciplines.
Better next time
As Milano–Cortina 2026 comes to a close, it offers an opportunity to reflect on how the Olympics must evolve.
The lessons learned in the Italian Alps are already informing discussions around the 2030 Winter Olympics in France, where civil society organisations, athletes and communities are mobilising for stronger sustainability standards and greater transparency.
As Antoine Pin, Director of POW France, recently reflected:
“The Olympics are a unique opportunity to show that sport and sustainability can move forward together. By aligning words with actions, and involving citizens in environmental decision making, the IOC and NOC can protect not only the future of the Games, but the future of winter itself.”
POW Europe and its national chapters stand ready to support this effort. Together, we bring our experience, our passion and our commitment to constructive collaboration to ensure that the Olympic legacy continues to inspire, unite and endure.
Milano–Cortina 2026 should become a turning point — not a missed opportunity.
Top image: © Beatrice Citterio (@wake.up.bea) / POW Italy
