Climate change is one of the most important issues facing the entire planet, and it is also a threat to the Winter Olympics, which require snow and cold weather. Although temperatures in Adler (Greater Sochi, Russia) reached 20°C during the 2014 Sochi Games, just 60km to the north, in the mountains of Krasnaya Polyana, they reached -10°C and even the women's biathlon relay event had to be postponed due to a storm and heavy 'tuman' (fog). 

Since the first Winter Games in Chamonix, France, in 1924, a total of 20 cities have hosted the Winter Games, including Lake Placid (USA, 1932 and 1980) and Calgary (Canada, 1988) in North America, Oslo (Norway, 1952) and Albertville (France, 1992) in Europe, and Nagano (Japan, 1998) and Pyeongchang (South Korea, 2018) in Asia.

A study by the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, shows that last February temperatures in cities that have hosted the Winter Olympics since 1950 rose by an average of 4.8 degrees Fahrenheit, 8.9 degrees Fahrenheit in the case of Beijing, where artificial snow was the only way to host the 2022 Games. 

"Artificial snow is harder, icier and it changes with the weather. It can make the course - I don't want to say dangerous - but it makes it harder to navigate the turns," USA's Jessie Diggins, a two-time world cross-country champion and three-time Olympic medallist, including gold at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, told the New York Times.

Daniel Scott, a professor at the University of Waterloo, was radical: "Under a high-emissions scenario like the one we're on now, we'll have four climate-safe places by mid-century and only one by the end of the century. The four cities projected to remain climate-safe in 2050 are Lake Placid (USA), Lillehammer, Oslo (both Norway) and Sapporo (Japan), the only one projected to retain that status by 2080 if global emissions aren't curbed, according to the study. 

The Paris Agreement (or Paris Climate Accords) was first adopted in 2015 and as of February 2023 involved 195 members of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, including the US, which withdrew in 2020 and rejoined a year later.

It is a crucial international treaty to make a conscious effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which have been proven to be one of the biggest contributors to global warming. It fights for a long-term temperature goal: to limit the increase in global surface temperature to well below 2 °C (3.6 °F) above pre-industrial levels,

In a low-emissions scenario consistent with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, nine out of 21 host cities would have reliable February conditions by the 2050s, and the number would drop to just eight by the 2080s.

"By the middle of the century, there will be practically only 10-12 NOCs (National Olympic Committees) capable of hosting these snow events," the IOC website quoted its president, Thomas Bach, as saying last autumn. 

The Paralympic Winter Games are even more at risk because for the past 20 years they have been held a month after the Winter Olympics, usually in March. By then, average temperatures in the northern hemisphere are higher and lack of snow is an increasing problem. 

Hautacam, a ski resort in the French Pyrenees, has rebranded itself as 'Hautacam Plage' (or Hautacam Beach) and its 20 slopes have become walking and cycling destinations. Nearby, in Bareges, skiers have artificial snow surrounded by snowless mountains. "We have to ask ourselves in what conditions we are prepared to hold these ski races," said Fabien Saguez, president of the 100,000-member French Ski Federation (FFS), quoted by AFP.

The International Biathlon Union (IBU) has found that around 60% of biathlon athletes have felt the impact of climate change on training and competition conditions. Meanwhile, last season the FIS was forced to cancel two ski races in Germany and France, while the snowboarding World Cup in Mammoth, California, USA, was hit by a massive storm with record snowfall. "Storms of the century now happen every four to five years," said Susanna Sieff, FIS sustainability director. 

With the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina fast approaching, there is growing concern that climate change could threaten them. "By the middle of the century, only 10-12 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) will be able to host these snow events," the IOC website quoted its president, Thomas Bach, as saying in October. 

Albertville won the bid to host the 1992 Winter Olympics, beating Sofia (Bulgaria), Falun (Sweden), Lillehammer (Norway), Cortina d'Ampezzo (Italy), Anchorage (USA) and Berchtesgaden (then West Germany) in a record seven bids. Almost two decades later, the number of candidates for the 2014 Games was whittled down to just three when Russia's Sochi beat Salzburg (Austria) and Pyeongchang (South Korea), which beat out Munich (Germany) and Annecy (France) to host the 2018 Winter Games.

The IOC could only decide between Almaty (Kazakhstan) and winner Beijing (China) by 44 votes to 40. Now Milano-Cortina will host the Winter Olympic Games in 2026 after beating its only rival, Stockholm-Are (Sweden), in a new investigation into how the Winter Olympics are beginning to be a problem in every sense of the word, with climate change and rising costs in the spotlight.