There are only a few months left before the Olympic torch arrives at the San Siro stadium in Milan, officially kicking off the 25th Winter Olympic Games. The “Milano Cortina 2026 Foundation”, the event’s organising body, recently published the latest version of its Sustainability Impact & Legacy Report for 2024, a document of nearly 100 pages that describes strategies, objectives, and results already achieved in environmental, social, and economic terms. The stated intention in the report remains to make the 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games a “model of sustainability” for future major sporting events [1]. 

However, despite the results and official figures reported, many observers from environmental associations and journalists from various newspapers continue to denounce contradictions and strong negative impacts already visible in the Alpine region. Reading the investigations of various Italian newspapers [2,3,4], a different picture is observed from the one described in the report, one of enormous construction sites, land consumption and strong accusations of opacity in the management of contracts.

The total estimated emissions for Milan Cortina 2026 amount to 1,005,000 tonnes of CO₂eq [1], less than Pyeongchang 2018 (1.6 million) and Beijing 2022 (714,000 tonnes, due to severe restrictions on public travel because of the Covid pandemic).

The main sources of emissions identified are [1]:

• Games planning and operations: 301,000 tCO₂eq (30%).
• Construction of permanent infrastructure: 290,000 tCO₂eq (29%).
• Associated activities (in particular spectator travel): 414,000 tCO₂eq (41%).

The Organising Committee states that it wants to achieve net zero emissions through offsetting and investments for the local communities most affected. However, the articles cited above [2,3,4] highlight that the greatest burden falls on travel and the construction of new facilities, areas that are largely beyond the Foundation’s direct control.

The most controversial issue concerns the permanent structures that will be built and their future impact on mountain areas. The report refers to the “temporary effects” of the construction sites and assures that the Games delivery plan will not result in “permanent changes in land use” [1].

Nevertheless, independent investigations tell a different story: from Cortina to Bormio, concerns have been raised about overbuilding in fragile areas, landslides and hydrogeological risks linked to new roads, slopes and facilities.

The promise of a “positive balance for natural ecosystems” through ecological compensation works appears difficult to verify, especially considering construction delays and reported inconsistencies [4].

The report also devotes considerable space to the sensitive issue of artificial snow and its impact on the already scarce water resources of some Alpine locations. In fact, approximately 2.37 million m³ of snow, equivalent to 948,000 m³ of water, will be needed to ensure that the competitions can take place. Given the low snowfall in recent years, it will be very difficult to reach these numbers from “natural” sources alone.

The Foundation emphasises that the introduction of high-altitude reservoirs and low-consumption, high-energy-efficiency cannons can help reduce this impact [1]. However, the worrying fact that enormous quantities of water will be taken from ecosystems that are already fragile and not very resilient still remains. The newspaper Altreconomia reports that the water requirements of the facilities risk exacerbating water scarcity in the Alps, which are already affected by the sometimes-extreme effects of the current global warming [2].

On the transport front, the initial objective was to reduce dependence on private cars by strengthening railway lines to the mountainous areas of Valtellina and Cortina, while also ensuring travel between the various competition venues with additional trains and buses. Initial announcements predicted that 21% of the official fleet would be electric and the rest powered by HVO biodiesel. The investigation published in Domani points out the geographical complexity of the Olympic sites (spread over 300 km), risks translating into traffic, emissions and further pressure on the already insufficient and outdated local infrastructure [3].