Projected climate change scenarios are used to predict the ability of 19 previous host cities to provide suitable conditions for outdoor winter sport competition in future.
In a best case, low emissions scenario, only 10 past host-cities remain viable in the 2050s (Albertville, Calgary, St. Moritz, Salt Lake City, Sapporo, Beijing, Lake Placid, Lillehammer, Nagano). The same 10 cities are viable in the 2080s under a low emissions scenario.
However, should emissions remain high, only 4 cities would have reliable climates in 2080 to host the Winter Games: Albertville, Calgary, Salt Lake City and Beijing.
CITE: Scott, D., Steiger, M., Rutty, M. & Johnson, R. (2015). The future of the Olympic Winter Games in an era of climate change. Current Issues in Tourism, 18(10), 910-930.
Comments