There is no winter sport without snow: Even if there is enough snow at the Olympic competition venues this year, things could look different in the future. Rising temperatures will lead to increasingly unsafe snow conditions at many potential venues, a study shows. This applies to just over half of all possible venues worldwide for the Winter Games and Winter Paralympics. But there are customization options.
The Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games rely heavily on icy weather conditions – enough snow is needed to be able to hold competitions such as downhill, biathlon or cross-country skiing. However, it is precisely these conditions that are becoming increasingly uncertain due to climate change. Milder winters, more frequent warm phases and changes in precipitation make it difficult to plan venues in the long term.
A team led by climate researcher Daniel Scott from the University of Waterloo in Canada has investigated which of the 93 locations managed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) would still be considered as venues for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in the future. In an earlier study, the researchers have already shown that if the current climate policy is maintained, of these 93 places, only 52 will be considered reliable hosts for the Olympic Games and 22 for the Paralympics in the long term.
The climate crisis is having a lasting impact on winter sports
The result is also clear in the new study: If greenhouse gas emissions continue to develop as they have so far, many of the Olympic locations examined will lose their suitability as venues for the Winter Games by 2050. Europe is particularly affected. In Western Europe, where almost all potential venues are still considered to have snow, the proportion of reliable locations drops to around 40 percent, according to the model calculations. For the Paralympics taking place after the Winter Games, the outcome is even more drastic: by the middle of the century, only around 20 percent of the possible venues in Western Europe are considered to have snow.
“We see that the climate crisis not only brings individual bad winters, but also changes the foundation of winter sports,” says co-author Robert Steiger from the University of Innsbruck. “The risks to fairness and safety in competition are increasing as phases of unusually warm weather during the Games become more likely and can severely affect the quality of the snow. The better we are able to limit the rise in temperature, the less frequent and less pronounced such events will occur. Climate protection therefore specifically reduces the risk of problematic conditions during the Games.”
But there are options for adaptation: The researchers are formulating several suggestions on how the Winter Games can be better adapted to the consequences of climate change. For example, it would make sense to bring the events forward by two weeks. Model calculations show that this could significantly increase the number of suitable venues, especially for the Paralympics. If the Olympic Games start at the end of January and the Paralympics in late February, the chance of sufficient snow and cold weather conditions increases. Combining the Olympics and Paralympics could also help reduce the weather risk to the Paralympics. But due to the scale of the events, this is hardly feasible, according to the team.
No more winter games without artificial snow
Another important point is how to deal with artificial snow. The study shows that the Winter Olympics would no longer be able to be planned reliably in the future without technical snowmaking. Without artificial snow, only a few of the 93 locations examined are already suitable for safe and fair competitions in snow sports. The models show that without snowmaking, the number of potential hosts would drop to just four locations worldwide by the 2050s.
“In recent years there has been repeated criticism of the heavy use of artificial snow, for example in Beijing,” says Scott. “But a general waiver is not a realistic option, just as the return of ice hockey, figure skating or curling to the outdoors is not. Without snowmaking, the games would much more often be characterized by unsafe and unfair conditions or canceled competitions, and in the end there would be Winter Games without snow sports.”
According to the researchers, many of the considerations from the study can also be transferred to winter tourism. This could mean that operators will focus more on higher areas in the future, plan snowmaking better or expand additional offerings that also work without snow. Scot and his colleagues explain that such adjustments are particularly important for winter sports regions in the Alpine region, where the snow season has been shortening for years, in order to be able to maintain operations.
Source: University of Innsbruck; Specialist article: Current Issues on Tourism, doi: 10.1080/13683500.2026.2617880