New report finds major polluters melting the snow of the winter sports they sponsor
People ski on a slope near Schladming, Austria. Photo: Matthias Schrader, AFP
The future of winter sports is under threat from the very companies that sponsor it, argues a brand new report from Badvertising and think-tank, New Weather Sweden.
The report, titled ‘The Snow Thieves - How High-Carbon Sponsors are Melting Winter Sports’, identifies a minimum of 107 high carbon sponsorship deals within winter sports, despite its increasing vulnerability to climate change and rising global temperatures.
The report also highlights the irony that the combined emissions of two of the sponsors of Sweden’s world-famous Vasaloppet - the London Marathon of ski races - car manufacturer Volvo and energy firm Preem, account for the loss of 210 square kilometres of snow cover - or the area of snow equivalent to 233 Vasaloppet ski races.
Without deep and immediate emissions cuts, the future of winter sports is already in doubt. Under a high-emissions scenario, winters could be as short as 31 days by the end of the century. The fact that the sport continues to be used as a billboard for some of the biggest corporate polluters on the planet adds insult to injury.
Commenting on the report, Britain’s most successful Winter Olympian, Lizzy Yarnold, said: “At their best winter sports are a celebration of people enjoying some of the most awesome landscapes on Earth. But the impact of climate pollution is now melting the snow and ice which these sports depend on. Having high carbon sponsors is like winter sport nailing the lid on its own coffin, and it needs to stop.”
It’s not just winter athletes that are facing an uncertain future at the hands of the climate crisis. The livelihoods of thousands of people that rely on winter sports will be thrown into doubt. For the European skiing tourism market, an average warming of 2°C is expected to generate a loss of 10.1 million guest nights per winter season and an even greater loss of ski lift ticket sales. European ski resorts experienced winter temperatures above 20°C this year and many were forced to close, with images of snow-less hills circulating in the media.
The other main findings from the report are:
Due to global heating linked to greenhouse gas emissions, compared to 1970, each year the snow cover in the northern hemisphere shrinks by an additional estimated 90,600 square kilometres, over one fifth the size of Sweden and over one third the size of Great Britain.
Emissions from two sponsors of the ski world’s version of the London Marathon, Sweden’s famous Vasaloppet ski race, account for the loss of 210 square kilometres of snow cover per year, equivalent to 233 times the snow area used by the race
Winter sports are increasingly vulnerable to rising global temperatures and other impacts of climate change, with many European ski resorts facing closures and disruptions this winter.
International sporting events are coming under scrutiny over sponsorship deals with polluting companies, after a series of high-profile deals ended over climate change concerns.
The full report can be found here and the press release is available here. If you’d like to share some of the social media assets relating to the report, please head over to Badvertising Twitter page.