By JENNIFER McDERMOTT
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — It takes an immense quantity of power to energy venues and make snow for the Winter Olympics and, for the 2026 Milan Cortina Games, organizers pledged that virtually all of the electricity could be clear.
The organizing committee mentioned that power use is the place they will take advantage of significant influence, because it has been one of many primary drivers of planet-warming emissions at main occasions. And Italy’s largest electrical energy firm, Enel, assured the availability of totally licensed renewable electrical energy for occasion venues.
Right here’s a have a look at what meaning:
To ensure 100% renewable power, Enel purchased certificates
The organizing committee mentioned in its sustainability report from September that its Video games-time electrical power could be 100% inexperienced, fed by licensed renewable sources. In uncommon circumstances the place short-term energy technology is required, hydrotreated vegetable oil could be substituted for conventional diesel fuels, it mentioned.
“That is additionally a possibility to contribute to a broader shift — displaying athletes, spectators and future host cities that cleaner power options are more and more viable for occasions of this scale,” the committee mentioned Friday in an announcement to The Related Press. “We hope the steps taken for these Video games can assist ongoing progress throughout main occasions.”
Enel mentioned it’s supplying 85 gigawatt-hours of energy for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Video games. It purchased “assure of origin” (GO) certificates in the marketplace from renewable power vegetation to cowl your complete Video games’ power demand.
GO certificates are a European mechanism created in 2001. Every certificates corresponds to 1 megawatt hour of electrical energy produced utilizing an authorized renewable supply.
Certificates are a technique to show your power is inexperienced
These certificates are traded on the facility market, in negotiations between firms or by brokers.
As soon as used, they’re canceled to forestall the identical megawatt hour from being claimed twice. This technique is supposed to assist the event of renewable sources, by serving to firms meet their inexperienced power targets.
Enel advised the AP in an announcement that its dedication to cleanly lighting up the occasions “interprets the values of sustainability and inclusion inherent within the Video games into concrete phrases, combining technological innovation and environmental safety.”
Whereas many say GOs are very important to advertise Earth’s decarbonization, the system has its detractors. Matteo Villa, who leads the info lab on the Italian Institute for Worldwide Political Research, mentioned it’s a “nice technique to promote your occasion,” however it’s not making Italy cleaner or extra renewable.
The Video games can solely be as clear, or as sustainable, as the entire of Italy, Villa added.
Enel says it’s producing lots of clear electrical energy in Italy
Almost three-quarters of the electrical energy Enel produced in Italy in 2025 was carbon-free, in keeping with its preliminary full-year operational information. About 50% got here from hydropower, adopted by 17% geothermal and fewer than 10% from wind, photo voltaic and different renewables. The rest was principally from gas-fired energy vegetation.
Many energy vegetation that use water to supply electrical energy are in northern Italy, the place mountains and rivers make for extremely productive services. However Italy’s nationwide grid continues to be largely reliant on fossil fuels, according country-specific data from the International Energy Agency.
Enel constructed new major substations in Livigno and Arabba, so electrical energy may very well be distributed all through the territory. It additionally constructed and upgraded distribution infrastructure within the Livigno, Bormio and Cortina areas, which is able to profit residents after the Video games finish.
Enel has a spot within the fan village in Cortina, the place occasions are livestreamed.
One other problem: emissions from spectators and athletes touring
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Nice Britain’s Adele Nicoll, proper, slides down the observe throughout a two ladies bobsled coaching session on the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (AP Photograph/Alessandra Tarantino)
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Nice Britain’s Adele Nicoll, proper, slides down the observe throughout a two ladies bobsled coaching session on the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2026. (AP Photograph/Alessandra Tarantino)
Sustainability has been a serious focus for the Video games, as each the organizers and the Worldwide Olympic Committee search to mannequin the way to lower carbon air pollution whereas working a serious occasion. Researchers say the list of locales that could reliably host a Winter Games will shrink considerably within the coming years.
“Each Video games we try to push innovation in sustainability, cut back the general influence and the carbon footprint,” Julie Duffus, the IOC’s head of sustainability, advised the AP Friday. She highlighted the usage of clear energy, upgrades to the power system and the best way these Video games had been designed so that the majority venues could be current or short-term.
Matteo Di Castelnuovo, a professor of power economics on the SDA Bocconi Faculty of Administration in Milan, mentioned he expects the Olympics will keep dedicated to wash power, and that “the problem lies elsewhere to make them greener.” The thornier concern for Olympic organizers, and for any enterprise, is determining the way to cut back the emissions they don’t have direct management over, notably these stemming from transportation, he added.
The quantity of greenhouse gases estimated to be launched into the environment on account of the Video games is much like the emissions of 4 million average-sized, gasoline-fueled vehicles driving from Paris to Rome, the organizing committee mentioned in its greenhouse gasoline administration technique. The most important share of the carbon footprint are actions not directly associated to the Video games, resembling lodging and spectator journey. Air journey is a big contributor as a result of burning jet gasoline releases carbon dioxide.
Karl Stoss, who chairs the Games’ Future Host Commission, has mentioned they could must finally cut back the variety of sports activities, athletes and spectators who attend.
Many skiers, together with Staff USA members Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin, expressed concern throughout the Video games about local weather change accelerating soften of the world’s glaciers.
Related Press author Colleen Barry and video journalist Brittany Peterson in Milan contributed to this report.
AP Winter Olympics protection: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
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