The 2026 Winter Olympics could be the first in history to be held under the banner of sustainable development, thanks to a project that puts the goals of the 2030 Agenda into practice. Italy will host them with Milan-Cortina.
On 24 June, during the 134th session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the city that will host the Winter Olympics 2026 was announced: it is the tandem Milan-Cortina. At the Festival dell'energia held last week at the Triennale di Milano, we interviewed Giovanni Malagò, president of the Italian National Olympic Committee (Coni), to understand the new awarding criteria, which are placing ever greater weight on sustainability elements.
Milano Cortina 2026 is the Italian bid committee for the 2026 Winter Olympic Games, whose candidacy followed the guidelines of the Olympic Agenda 2020 — in other words, the strategic roadmap for the future of the Olympic movement — and the New norm, 118 reforms for the organisation of the Olympic Games. Alongside these guidelines, which are strictly technical and specific to the sporting sector, are those of the 2030 Agenda, which contains the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations. Milan Cortina 2026 has five objectives: games for everyone; sustainable development and cooperation in the Alpine macro-region; promoting the Olympic spirit and the Alpine mountain range as an important sporting hub; and, finally, strengthening the Olympic brand and adding value to the Olympic movement.
What characteristics must an Olympics have to be considered "sustainable"?
Sustainability represents a fundamental pillar of the Milan Cortina 2026 project. It means contributing to the development of innovative solutions aimed at shaping the future, while guaranteeing long-term benefits. It means enhancing the existing heritage, turning the dictates of the IOC's Agenda 2020 into reality and demonstrating, through tangible facts and appropriate dynamics, that it is possible to host the Olympic Games by leveraging responsible, environmentally respectful and socially virtuous policies.
What indicators do you take into consideration?
The sustainability-focused approach and its criteria will be central throughout the entire lifecycle of the event. A programme will be developed that provides for the active involvement of stakeholders, with the aim of engaging third parties and organisations from the public and private sectors and civil society, with the objective of promoting a process of shared value through the strengthening of synergies between the economic and social benefits linked to the 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Games. This result will be made possible by the fact that Milan Cortina could be the first Winter Games edition conceived entirely in accordance with the recommendations of Agenda 2020, the IOC's New norm reform and the objectives set by the global 2030 Agenda for sustainable development. Attention will be focused on infrastructure design, procurement and resource management — and therefore on the food recovery system and waste sorting — on environmental impact and renewable energy, on the reuse of Games assets, on mobility and on the workforce.
Talk of sustainable Winter Olympics began with the 2010 Vancouver Games, which featured green buildings, sustainable mobility measures, waste sorting and renewable energy sources. Yet the history of the Olympics is also littered with white elephants. How genuinely can an Olympics serve as an opportunity for lasting sustainable development of the host territory?
Compared with the past, alignment with certain principles has become an non-negotiable duty — the indispensable foundation on which to build a candidacy. This is the effect of the new course set by the IOC, which is sensitive to global concerns and the broader situation. It is a wake-up call to be applauded, one that places sustainability and legacy at the heart of projects. 93 per cent of the venues included in the Milan Cortina dossier are existing or temporary: a telling figure in this regard, one that goes hand in hand with a philosophy destined to make history. Today, a proposal can only exist together with the certainty of a tomorrow that represents a tangible legacy. Territorial development is therefore an essential condition: cities interconnected with the rest of the world, overcoming physical, social and economic barriers between centre and periphery, the development of youth policies and of sustainable development. An unmissable and concrete opportunity to grow through the leverage offered by the greatest sporting event in the world.
Due to the climate crisis, we face a future of ever higher temperatures, with all that this entails in terms of water scarcity and a reduction in snowfall levels too. Do you think it is still possible to speak of Winter Olympics and sustainability together, or is that an oxymoron?
Taking climate change into account is both a duty and an objective to pursue. The meteorological conditions during the period envisaged for the Games [6–22 February and 6–15 March for the Paralympics, ed.] are normally very favourable and feature precipitation and snow cover at the mountain venues. The project nonetheless includes the development of a risk analysis of climate change trends that could affect the communities involved in the Games. A department dedicated to sustainability and the Olympic legacy will be established, aimed at the correct implementation of the General Plan for the realisation of the Games, incentivising the adoption of specific initiatives. The municipalities of Milan and Cortina and the regions of Lombardy and Veneto share a strong commitment to tackling climate change.
Considering a broader sense of the concept of sustainability, to what extent are the Olympics a tool for union and integration between peoples and cultures?
The five rings, symbol of the Olympic Games, are the most emblematic expression of the osmosis between peoples and cultures that comes to life through sport in its most important dimension. Rivalry should be read as an opportunity for growth, within the embrace of a global brotherhood in which distances are bridged by the desire for integration and inclusion. The Games are a lesson in civilisation and culture, a message that comes from afar and will never cease to leave its mark.
