At the Nordic Sustainability Arena in Åre, Sweden, the ski industry, scientists, and athletes confront the climate crisis head-on. From bare slopes to bold commitments, this event signals a possible turning point. But is the shift coming too late?

Global warming has been the “elephant in the room” among many major players from the ski associations and the industry itself. Suston’s Joel Svedlund reports from the Nordic Sustainability Arena, one of the many initiatives that aims to turn the tide.
The “Nordic Sustainability Arena; a forum for white winters” is a sign of the times. Initiated by the Alpine World Cup Åre organizers, it runs in parallel with the women’s downhill competition weekend in the Swedish ski town Åre, in March.

Science, business and emotion converge in Åre

With an interesting mix of science, business, sports and emotion, they aim to become a catalyst for transition among winter sports arenas, the surrounding communities, and supporting ecosystems of business and organizations.
The timing for a conference about white winters couldn’t be more spot on.

On my way to Åre, Sweden’s most renowned ski resort, I passed the open fields of the Mattmar village, normally filled with meter-deep snow in early March. Now, all I could see was brown grass, two months too early. On the mountain Åreskutan, only a few minutes by ski lift from the ongoing World Cup competitions, we could watch stray reindeer roaming bare patches to find their favorite lichen to eat. This time of year, they should be in the lower woodlands digging deep in the snow for food.

Warning signs raised for decades

Scientists and NGOs have warned us about the implications of climate change for decades. In the Alps, it has been evident for many years now, and winter sports are suffering. Have we put our heads in the snow for too long?

Indeed, inaction and fear of mentioning the “C-word” have been dominant approaches in winter sports until very recently. Ski destinations are afraid of jinxing the next season’s success by bringing doom and gloom to the table, ski and apparel brands are struggling with how to approach the topic, considering their material and energy intense supply chains, and the sports organizations and athletes are afraid of alienating sponsors and spectators by suggesting they may need to restrict activities or conform to a new reality.

Åre brings climate realities front and center

Now, it is inevitable.

The Åre conference turns out to be a refreshing experience. It starts with Erik Kjellström, Climatology professor at the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI), who shares not only the latest climate science, but also his emotional connection to winters that future generations will experience.

According to Kjellström, we can already see evident weather system changes and we can expect “warmer, wetter, drier, changing extremes.” In other words, climate change is currently on track to impact winter sports severely.

Athletes, Sámi voices and bold goals

We then hear the soft-spoken plea from Richard Åström from the local Sámi Village to start learning from nature, followed by emotional stories about the love for winter and concerns for the future by both young upcoming and former Swedish elite ski athletes like André Myhrer and Charlotte Kalla.

With a scientific backdrop provided by the Stockholm Resilience Center and talks from industry and sports leaders about bold goals and the will to act, this conference has potential as a starting point for serious climate action among the participating local, national and international leaders from industry, society and sports.

Sports can matter!

In retrospect, I think the Paris 2024 Olympics will be seen as a turning point in how sports events are used to pivot and manifest a positive transition. In a presentation by Georgina Grenon, Sustainability Director of the 2024 event in the French capital, we could follow how the Games manifested and further contributed to the Parisian transition towards a low-emission city, in everything from construction to audience transport, food and recreation possibilities.

Winter sports have a unique position to communicate the necessity of a climate transition, with strong brands, high-profile athletes and direct effects for (privileged) middle-class Europeans.

The winter sports destination can also provide a good testing ground, a miniature ecosystem and society model that can be used both to test innovative solutions and study the direct effects of climate change. One of the major ski destination operators in Europe is SkiStar. With its climate transition plan to halve emissions and go all-in for electrification before 2030, SkiStar has the potential to become a leading force in this transition.

But it remains to be seen whether the impending loss of winters will provoke us to act fast enough and with enough ferocity. Will the international ski federation, FIS, fully acknowledge the climate threat and will SkiStar be able to combine their climate ambitions with the requirement for shareholder dividends? Will we have the power to influence other parts of society and business? Is it possible to once again create a broad climate action movement in the wake of Greta Thunberg’s now-fading success?

Winter sports are also part of society and everyday life

One of the greatest challenges of winter sports, both on elite level and among regular ski resort visitors, is transport emissions. Mattias Goldmann, head of the Swedish 2030 Secretariat for climate transition, outlined a potential future for transport. In Sweden, we are currently going in the wrong direction with price dumps and less bio content in fossil fuels, leading to an 18% increase of carbon emissions from road traffic the last year.

Yet, there are still hopes of creating a transport system in line with the Paris Agreement. In a panel with speakers from railway, automotive and airline travels, they talked about new fuels, electrification, public transport and smarter logistics as parts of the solution. But it requires solid commitment from both politics and business, and we will need long-term behavior changes to limit unnecessary transport.

Afterthoughts in the slopes

We spent the weekend after the conference skiing and watching World Cup downhill racing with a swirl of conflicting emotions. While it is late, it is not too late to act. We will see drastic climate changes, but the severity of them will be determined by our ability to stop carbon emissions and strengthen nature’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide.

Maybe it is inevitable, maybe we need to feel acute pain to start healing our wounded world. Now, we need to use our self-interest in winter activities to bring the rest of industry and society along in the climate transition. No big deal, just hard labor and all hands on deck for another lifetime or two.

 

Photo: SkiStar / Nordic Sustainability Arena