Climate Change Threatens Future Winter Olympics

New study projects fewer locations will be climate-reliable enough to host the Winter Games.

Feb. 1, 2026 at 11:55am

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A new study by researchers from the University of Waterloo, University of Toronto, and University of Innsbruck projects that climate change will severely limit the number of locations that can reliably host future Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. Out of 93 potential host sites, only 52 would remain climate-reliable for the Olympics and just 22 for the Paralympics if current climate policies continue. This is forcing the International Olympic Committee to rethink the format and timing of the Winter Games.

Why it matters

The Winter Olympics have long been held in iconic winter sports destinations, but climate change is threatening the viability of many of these traditional host sites. Warmer temperatures, less snowfall, and unreliable snow conditions are making it increasingly difficult for cities to reliably host the Games. This is forcing the IOC to explore major changes, including shifting the timing of the events and moving away from centralized Games in favor of more distributed competition clusters.

The details

The study found that previous Winter Olympic sites like Grenoble, France, Sochi, Russia, and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany would not have enough snowfall by 2050 to be considered climate-reliable hosts. Other past hosts like Vancouver-Whistler, Tahoe, California, and Oslo, Norway were deemed "climatically risky." The IOC has already delayed its decision on a 2030 host city by a year to get more information on climate impacts. The upcoming 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics will use an unprecedented 250 million gallons of water to produce artificial snow, while the 2022 Beijing Olympics relied on nearly 100% man-made snow.

  • The 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing used an estimated 49 million gallons of water to produce 1.2 million cubic meters of artificial snow.
  • The 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics will use approximately 250 million gallons of water to make enough artificial snow for the Games.
  • The IOC postponed its decision on a 2030 Winter Olympics host city from September 2023 to July 2024 to get more information on climate impacts.

The players

Daniel Scott

An environment professor at the University of Waterloo and the lead author on the study "Advancing Climate Change Resilience of the Winter Olympic-Paralympic Games".

Madeleine Orr

A sports ecology professor at the University of Toronto and a co-author on the study.

Christophe Dubi

The IOC's Olympic Games executive director.

Karl Stoss

The chairman of the IOC's Future Host Commission.

Kirsty Coventry

The IOC president.

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What they’re saying

“Climate change is going to change the geography of where we can hold the Winter Olympics and the Paralympics. There's no question. The only question is, how much?”

— Daniel Scott, Environment professor, University of Waterloo (dailynews.com)

“I don't think we're going to see a Winter Olympic Games in Utah in 2034.”

— Rocky Anderson, Former Salt Lake City mayor (Yale Climate Connections)

“Climate change has become one of the central strategic challenges for the International Olympic Committee with regard to the future of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.”

— Robert Steiger, Professor, University of Innsbruck (dailynews.com)

“We have to look at how we can change the format for the future Winter Olympic and Summer Olympic Games.”

— Karl Stoss, Chairman, IOC Future Host Commission (dailynews.com)

“It's time to explore everything and anything. It's impacting us as a group, and as a sports movement together and we have to have these conversations on how we forsee things in the future and how are we going to adapt the historical timing of things to ensure that we can still hold our sports events around the world.”

— Kirsty Coventry, IOC President (dailynews.com)

What’s next

The IOC has postponed its decision on a host city for the 2030 Winter Olympics from September 2023 to July 2024 to gather more information on the climate change impacts on potential host sites.

The takeaway

Climate change is forcing the International Olympic Committee to fundamentally rethink the future of the Winter Olympics, including shifting the timing of the events, moving away from centralized Games, and relying more heavily on artificial snowmaking. The viability of many iconic winter sports destinations to reliably host the Games is in jeopardy, requiring the IOC to explore new approaches to ensure the long-term future of the Winter Olympics.