“Greenpeace urges Winter Olympics to drop oil sponsor amid climate change dispute”, 3 February 2026
Environmental advocacy group Greenpeace has urged organisers of the upcoming Winter Olympics to sever ties with Italian oil major Eni, warning that the company’s fossil fuel operations are undermining efforts to safeguard snow-dependent sports amidst a warming climate. The Milano Cortina Olympics, scheduled to run from 6 to 22 February, lists state-controlled Eni as one of its premium domestic sponsors.
Greenpeace argues that Eni’s activities significantly contribute to global warming, accelerating the loss of natural snow cover and glacier mass across the Alps and other vital winter sports regions…
In response, Eni stated that it “shared the importance of addressing climate change” and affirmed its commitment to investing in the energy transition as part of its plan to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050…
Contacted for comment, the IOC stated that the Games in Italy were planned with a strong focus on reducing their environmental footprint and supporting host regions in adapting to climate change. The committee added that the Games “engage with a range of partners across different sectors, including those investing in technologies and solutions relevant to the global energy transition.”
Greenpeace data suggests that the carbon dioxide emissions from Eni in a single year could melt enough glacier ice to fill 2.5 million Olympic swimming pools… However, Eni disputes this calculation, describing the translation of a single energy operator’s CO₂ emissions into a specific potential share of global glacial mass loss as “a simplistic and even misleading exercise.” The company argues that such an estimate fails to account for global demand for fossil energy and the crucial role of governments in defining climate policies and allocating resources for the transition.