"Some of the world's greatest winter sports athletes have called on the International Olympics Committee to stop taking fossil fuel industry money, including from Italian oil giant ENI, a "Premium Partner" of the 2026 Winter Olympics. "The time has come to question the ethical implications of...normalizing the connections between our sports and the detrimental effects of the product that [fossil fuel companies] sell," reads a petition delivered yesterday to IOC officials in Milan, Italy, where the Games' opening ceremony takes place on Friday."
"Burning oil, gas, coal, and other fossil fuels is the main driver of global warming, which is raising winter temperatures and reducing the snow cover that skiing and other winter sports require. Winters are rapidly warming across much of the Northern Hemisphere, threatening not only the Olympics but also communities economically and culturally dependent on skiing and other winter recreational activities."
"Although neither the IOC nor ENI have yet commented on the petition, the IOC did purchase 2.4 million cubic meters of artificial snow to enable reliable conditions for events taking place in the Italian Alps town of Cortina d'Ampezzo. ENI, which has said it aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, announced in December that "90% of the fuels that Eni...will supply to power the Games will be derived from renewable feedstocks.""
Some of the world's top winter sports athletes called on the International Olympic Committee to refuse fossil-fuel industry funding, singling out Italian oil company ENI, a 2026 Winter Olympics Premium Partner. The petition, delivered in Milan, gathered over 20,000 signatories including Olympic and world-champion athletes and was hand-delivered by nonprofit Ski Fossil Free. Rising temperatures from burning oil, gas, and coal are reducing snow cover and threatening skiing, winter communities, and the Games. The IOC purchased 2.4 million cubic meters of artificial snow for Cortina d'Ampezzo. ENI says it aims for carbon neutrality by 2050 and that 90% of fuels for the Games will derive from renewable feedstocks. February temperatures have warmed by 3.6°C.
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