Organizers of the Winter Games made clean energy a priority. Here's how they did it

"It takes an immense amount of energy to power venues and make snow for the Winter Olympics and, for the 2026 Milan Cortina Games, organizers pledged that virtually all of the electricity would be clean. The organizing committee said that energy use is where they can make the most meaningful impact, since it has been one of the main drivers of planet-warming emissions at major events. And Italy's largest electricity company, Enel, guaranteed the supply of entirely certified renewable electricity for event venues."

"Enel said it is supplying 85 gigawatt-hours of power for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. It bought guarantee of origin (GO) certificates on the market from renewable energy plants to cover the entire Games' energy demand. GO certificates are a European mechanism created in 2001. Each certificate corresponds to 1 megawatt hour of electricity produced using a certified renewable source."

Powering venues and producing snow for the Winter Olympics requires an immense amount of energy. Energy use has been one of the main drivers of planet-warming emissions at major events. For the 2026 Milan–Cortina Games, event electricity will come entirely from certified renewable sources. Enel will supply about 85 gigawatt-hours by purchasing guarantee of origin (GO) certificates to cover the Games' full energy demand. Each GO certificate represents one megawatt-hour from a certified renewable source and is canceled after use to prevent double-claiming. Temporary generation will use hydrotreated vegetable oil instead of diesel when needed. The approach aims to show cleaner energy solutions are viable for large-scale events.

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