Organizers of the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics have put clean electricity at the center of their sustainability plan, with a target of powering venues with certified renewable electricity for the Games’ overall demand. The organizing committee said energy use is where it can make the most meaningful impact and that Italy’s largest electricity supplier, Enel, has guaranteed the supply of entirely certified renewable electricity for Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games venues.
In a statement to The Associated Press, the committee said its sustainability report from September laid out the approach and that it expects Games-time electrical energy to be “100% green,” fed by certified renewable sources. It also said that in the “rare cases” where temporary power generation is required, it will substitute hydrotreated vegetable oil for traditional diesel fuels. The committee framed the procurement and substitution as an opportunity to show that cleaner energy solutions can work at an event of that scale.
Enel said in its own statement that it is supplying 85 gigawatt-hours of power for the Games and that it bought “guarantee of origin” certificates on the market from renewable energy plants to cover the entire Games’ energy demand. The statement described the certificates as tied to the amount of electricity produced: each “guarantee of origin” certificate corresponds to 1 megawatt hour of electricity produced using a certified renewable source, and once used the certificates are canceled to prevent double counting.
The organizing committee also described how the mechanism works in practice, saying the certificates are traded on the power market in negotiations between companies or through brokers. The committee’s explanation cited the certificate system’s role in supporting the development of renewable sources by helping companies meet their green energy targets, even as skeptics question what that target represents.
Enel said it is supplying the Games with electricity claims backed by domestic generation, and it reported that nearly three-quarters of the electricity it produced in Italy in 2025 was carbon-free, based on preliminary full-year operational data. Enel said about 50% of that carbon-free share came from hydropower, followed by 17% geothermal and less than 10% from wind, solar and other renewables, with the remainder mostly from gas-fired power plants. It also pointed to infrastructure investments tied to the event, including new primary substations in Livigno and Arabba and distribution infrastructure upgrades in Livigno, Bormio and Cortina.
Environmental researchers and energy-economics scholars said the broader challenge is not just what powers Olympic venues but what emissions the Games produce elsewhere, including travel and lodging. Julie Duffus, the IOC’s head of sustainability, told the AP that “Every Games we strive to push innovation in sustainability, reduce the overall impact and the carbon footprint,” highlighting the use of clean power, energy-system upgrades, and venue design so that most locations would be existing or temporary.
Matteo Di Castelnuovo, a professor of energy economics at the SDA Bocconi School of Management in Milan, said the Olympics will likely remain committed to clean energy, but that “the challenge lies somewhere else to make them greener.” He said the thornier issue for organizers is cutting emissions they do not control directly, including those connected to transportation. The organizing committee said its greenhouse gas management strategy estimates emissions released into the atmosphere from the Games as similar to emissions from 4 million average-sized gasoline-fueled cars driving from Paris to Rome, and it said the largest share of the carbon footprint is indirect, including accommodations and spectator travel.
The sustainability discussion also extends to how many athletes and spectators future host cities may be able to accommodate as climates warm. Karl Stoss, who chairs the Games’ Future Host Commission, said the Games may need to eventually reduce the number of sports, athletes and spectators who attend. The AP report also noted that many skiers, including Team USA members Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin, raised concerns during the Games about climate change accelerating the melt of the world’s glaciers.
Even with an event-specific clean-power target, at least some experts said the certificate system cannot by itself ensure the host country’s grid becomes cleaner. Matteo Villa, who leads the data lab at the Italian Institute for International Political Studies, said guarantee-of-origin certificates are a “great way to promote your event,” but that they are not making Italy cleaner or more renewable, adding that the Games can only be as clean or sustainable as the whole of Italy.