Top skiers and snowboarders call for winter sport’s international governing body to act on climate change

Leading winter sport athletes are demanding that the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) overhaul its sustainability strategy and take action over climate change.

Close to 200 athletes from multiple winter sport disciplines have signed a letter to the FIS describing how environmental changes are affecting their sports, noting that event cancellations are becoming more common as more weather-related disruptions arise.

With the current northern hemisphere season being marked by a notable lack of snow across Alpine resorts, leaving skiers and snowboarders disappointed and causing some tournaments to be called off, the letter notes “we are already experiencing the effects of climate change in our everyday lives and our profession.”

With global warming no longer guaranteeing snow at some of the top ski areas, and the situation predicted to get worse as the planet heats and weather becomes more erratic, the leading athletes have called for the FIS to overhaul its sustainability strategy and for the governing body to introduce a more “geographically reasonable” race schedule to reduce carbon emissions, as often the races entail flying across the world multiple times.

For example, this year, the men’s circuit will have travelled from Europe to North America and back twice.

They are also asking for the ski season to be changed to keep up with climate breakdown, suggesting shifting the start of the season from late October to late November and the end of the season from mid-March to late April.

The letter was written by the Austrian downhiller Julian Schütter, ambassador for non-profit climate campaign group Protect Our Winters.

It states “we are already experiencing the effects of climate change in our everyday lives and our profession.

“The public opinion about skiing is shifting towards unjustifiability … We need progressive organisational action. We are aware of the current sustainability efforts of FIS and rate them as insufficient.”

The letter urges the FIS to “lead in the fight against climate change” and take “progressive organisational action.”

Specifically, it calls on the Federation to:

• Commit to being climate neutral by 2035.

• Create a sustainability strategy outlining how to reduce emissions by 50% by 2030.

• Create a sustainability department within the organization.

• Commit to full transparency.

In an addendum, the athletes also ask the FIS to:

• Adjust the timing of the season to account for shifting weather patterns.

• Change the order of events to reduce travel.

• Empower national federations to make climate-smart decisions.

• Make events more climate-friendly by, for example, improving public transit options for spectators.

• Get involved in political debates related to environmental challenges.

• Educate officials, athletes and coaches, as well as the public, about sustainability.

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