Winter sports in bed with the companies who are putting it at risk, says report

Badvertising, a campaign organised by the New Weather Institute to try and stop high carbon advertising and sponsorship, have published a report that claims winter sports are under threat from the very companies that fund them.

The report, titled ‘The Snow Thieves – How High-Carbon Sponsors are Melting Winter Sports’, has found over 100 high carbon sponsorship deals within winter sports, at a time when it faces serious challenges from climate change.

The report found that every three years, snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere shrinks by an area the size of the UK.

Since 1924, there have been 20 different Winter Olympic venues but scientists believe that by 2050 only ten of them would be able to host the event. The last Winter Olympjcs in Beijing took place almost entirely on fake snow, which in itself is problematic due to the high amount of energy and water it uses.

The emissions of two of the main sponsors of Sweden’s world-famous cross-country Vasaloppet –  Volvo and the energy firm Preem – account for the loss of 210 square kilometres of snow cover between them.

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.’

Andrew Simms at Badvertising said: ‘Major climate polluters are the snow thieves, and having them sponsor winter sports that need reliably cold winters is like being sponsored by a burglar who keeps stealing from your home. Sport ended tobacco sponsorship over health concerns, it needs to do the same with major polluters, not just to protect athletes, the planet and the public, but the future of sport ”

Image: Glade Optics