Cool Down

🚨 Sportswashing alert! 🚨

In a new AI-generated video announcement, FIFA and Donald Trump’s so-called "Board of Peace” show 55 football pitches, a FIFA academy, and a national stadium rising from a recently-destroyed Gaza.

The dystopian slop in question. 👇

The full story. 🧵

‘A sobering preview’: extreme heat now affects one in three people globally, study finds Rising temperatures making it hard even for young, healthy people to safely do normal physical tasks in many regions

🚨 A new study published in the journal Environmental Research: Health found that 1 in 3 people globally are affected by extreme heat.

As sport at elite and grassroots levels tackle increased climate impacts, this has big implications for the future of sports.🧵

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Aramco FIFA Sponsorship: Supporters Groups Call on FIFA to End Deal Supporters groups worldwide are calling on FIFA to end the Aramco FIFA sponsorship deal ahead of the 2026 World Cup.

🚨 Football fans are taking on an oil giant.

In an open letter spearheaded by Fossil Free Football, a coalition of fans are speaking out against the deal between FIFA and the world's largest fossil fuel company Aramco. 🧵 1/6

‘No winter sport without stable winters‘ – could the Wint... The climate crisis is putting increasing pressure on venues and athletes

🚨 This week, the Winter Paralympic Games will get underway.

Pressure is continuing to build on the International Olympic Committee about their decision to promote Eni - one of the world's largest fossil fuel companies. 🧵 1/6

The Great Olympic lie: untold story of Winter Games’ huge environmental impact Rivers drained dry to create artificial snow, a forest cut down for the bobsleigh track – IOC’s claims to prioritise sustainability at Milano Cortina exposed

Sustainability is the great lie of the 2026 Winter Olympics.🤥

The word ‘sustainability’ featured over a hundred times in Milan’s bid proposal but these Games were just another example of green lip service in elite sport.🧵

www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/f...

'The new tobacco': The cities banning fossil fuel adverts Cities across the world are clearing their billboards of flight ads, SUVs, cruise ships and petrol cars in an attempt to cut emissions.

"The new tobacco" 🛢️💨

The movement for a fossil fuel advertising ban continues to build momentum across the globe.

In a new piece for the BBC, Isabella Kaminski tells the story of the campaign so far. 👇

Some recent wins. 🧵 1/6

In his last Winter Olympic report, Matt Rendell visits Olympic venues Bormio and Livigno to demonstrate the negative legacy the games will leave behind.🧵

youtu.be/IrdmsvTeUn0

The Winter Olympics have seen many environmental protests against their polluting sponsors and ecological and community impact. 🔥

And of the most unique was the performance by celebrated concert cellist Mario Brunello.🧵

youtu.be/uZyizNnP660

Against the backdrop of high-carbon sponsors headlining the Winter Olympics, the Alps are facing heavy industrialisation. 🗻

In his latest Winter Olympics report, Matt Rendell explores the ramifications behind the development of this iconic landscape.🧵

youtu.be/l_yF9TPXEdk

As the Winter Olympics comes to a close, the town of Cortina seems to be enjoying the fanfare of the games.

However town councillor Roberta De Zanna tells a very different story 🧵

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Designated as “an essential construction” by regional governments, the Santagiulia arena has caused upset amongst the community.

From Milan, Matt Rendell reports on the controversies and failed promises surrounding the Olympic Ice Hockey venue.🧵

youtu.be/YiPQcVeC2PI

The latest report from Matt Rendell dives into the transformation of Milan’s ‘Ice Palace’, an ex ice sports venue that’s been reimagined for music and cultural celebration. ⛸️🎸

youtu.be/7I_5ZSAkZ34

The Milan Cortina Winter Olympics’ partnership with oil and gas giant ENI is estimated to produce ~700,000 tCO2e. That’s nearly double the emissions of other high-carbon sponsors at the games.💨

From Milan, Matt Rendell reports on the legal battles against the mega polluter. 🧵

youtu.be/Ajxg1ohb1QI

This year’s Winter Games in Milan have seen a frenzy of deforestation. 🪵

In his latest report, Matt Rendell explores what exactly it is we’re destroying when we take away the forest.🧵

youtu.be/GXgs4uwveLo

The Winter Olympics has a big precedent to make the world a better place - as the banning of tobacco sponsorship at the 1988 Winter Games showed us. 🚭

So why are the Winter Games still platforming companies melting the snow they depend on? ❄️
🧵

youtu.be/NBq0Y_5hOvM

Amongst the host of polluting sponsors at the 2026 Winter Olympics, Leonardo - one of the world’s biggest arms manufacturers - is a key partner/ equipment provider for the Games.

In his latest report Matt Rendell questions where this leaves the spirit of the Olympic truce 🧵

youtu.be/i0YGk6lUSUw

In our latest report on the ground at the Winter Olympics, Matt Rendell introduces the Utopiads - a four day sustainable alternative to the Games.🧵

youtu.be/XUFOXqI0wjo

“The biggest threat to the Olympic dream is fossil fuels”: Winter athletes push the IOC to reconsider polluting sponsors — Cool Down Nearly 90 Olympians and Paralympians, alongside more than 40 athletes hoping to compete at future Olympic Games, write to the IOC stating that fossil fuel sponsorship is incompatible with the long-ter...

At the 1988 Winter Games, organisers showed leadership by deciding tobacco sponsorship was incompatible with athlete health and Olympic values.

Athletes are now calling for the same recognition of polluting industries. 6/6

Read the full piece. 👇

They’re calling on the IOC to:

– Open a formal dialogue with athlete reps
– Base sponsorship decisions on independent climate science
– Exclude fossil fuel companies
– Align policy with its own sustainability commitments

5/6

What makes this different from other letters?

This has been athlete-led and submitted through the IOC Athletes' Commission which directly advises the IOC Executive Board.

Full letter 👉 forfuturegames.com

4/6

In just 25 years, dozens of places will be too warm to host the Winter Olympics | CNN As humans continue to burn planet-heating fossil fuels, winter is changing: Snowfall is declining, snowpack is shrinking and temperatures are rising in many places. For those who rely on snow for thei...

For winter athletes, this isn’t symbolic.

Shorter seasons.

Unreliable snow.

Escalating costs to keep venues operational.

And recent research reveals that by 2050, only a handful of historic Winter Olympic host cities may remain viable.

3/6

The athletes' message to Olympic organisers is clear - fossil fuel sponsorship is incompatible with the future of sport.

That the Winter Games has this year been sponsored by one of the world's largest fossil fuel companies is too significant a contradiction to go unaddressed.

2/6

“The biggest threat to the Olympic dream is fossil fuels”: Winter athletes push the IOC to reconsider polluting sponsors — Cool Down Nearly 90 Olympians and Paralympians, alongside more than 40 athletes hoping to compete at future Olympic Games, write to the IOC stating that fossil fuel sponsorship is incompatible with the long-ter...

🚨 “The biggest threat to the Olympic dream is fossil fuels.”

Nearly 130 winter Olympians, Paralympians and future hopefuls have written to the IOC demanding a change to the hypocritical sponsorship policy of the Games. 🧵 1/6

Full story. 👇

The Winter Olympics, for a short time, has put Milan in the international spotlight. But what will the Games leave behind?

In Matt Rendell’s latest report, he documents the speculative developers that have used the Games to build expensive apartments. 🧵
youtu.be/jz1-PpRLxZ8

The Olympics aren’t just about sport.

Since Milan’s last Olympic bid for the 2004 Games, influential groups have harnessed cultural and sporting mega-events to attract people of high net worth to invest in the city - all while neglecting the needs of ordinary residents. 🔥

youtu.be/9lKgEbmhc6c

The Winter Olympics have begun with protests across Milan. On Thursday Greenpeace unveiled a sculpture of the Olympic rings drenched in oil, symbolising the Games’ partnership with mega polluter ENI.

youtu.be/6ELcrtAA90I

In his third report from Italy’s Olympic and climate frontlines, Matt Rendell explains how a huge amount of construction has gone into the 2026 Winter Olympics, much of it entirely unnecessary. 🏗️

youtu.be/sfhWLPQUeDA

The Opening Ceremony of the twenty-fifth Olympic Winter Games starts tonight at 8pm. But instead of being held at a winter sport venue, the event will take place at the San Siro football Stadium - a site not without controversy. 🎿🔥

youtu.be/katuNyQJSEY