Climate Change and The Olympic Winter Games
7th February 2022
By Lesley McKenna, three-time GB Olympian in snowboard halfpipe (2002, 2006 and 2010 Winter Games), Protect Our Winters UK Ambassador
I have been lucky enough to have worked in many snowy places all over the world in my career as a snowsport athlete and coach and then team manager from the early 1990s until the present day. I have seen huge changes in the snowpack in ski resorts over the winters and especially in glacier cover/condition in those 30 years. The changes are hugely concerning on many levels.
A new report, Slippery Slopes, produced by Sport Ecology, Loughborough University London, and Protect Our Winters UK has reinforced what we in the snow sports industry have unfortunately seen unfolding over the years.
Some key takeaways of the report are:
- Manmade warming is threatening the future of winter sports and reducing the number of climatically suitable host venues for the Winter Olympics.
- If global greenhouse gas emissions aren't dramatically reduced, only 1 in 21 cities to previously host the Winter Olympics would be able to provide safe conditions for the games by the end of the century.
- Beijing 2022 will be the first Winter Olympics to rely almost entirely on artificial snow - using an estimated 49 million gallons of chemically-treated water frozen through energy-intensive snow machines.
- The IOC has announced its intention to be climate positive from the 2024 Games - though it seems like it will rely on offsets which can be flawed.
- A much better solution for the environment would be to cut emissions, by choosing venues less reliant on artificial snow, like the 2026 venues in the mountains around Milan Cortina.
It's a concerning read, and you can find it in its entirety here
So what does this mean for high-performance snowsport athletes training for the Olympics? The changing snow conditions and weather patterns have made it a lot more difficult to plan ahead and to find consistent high-level training conditions. The weather and snow are far less consistent now than they were at the start of my career. It means that plans have to be very flexible if a team is to make it to the best training locations.
Everything then becomes more exclusive and more resource-heavy. Opportunities become harder to come by and less accessible. The fewer ski resorts there are capable of producing the best conditions for training, the fewer kids there are that have the chance of reaching the top level, with the costs of travelling to training and competitions increasing as the weather and snow become less stable.
Less accessibility and opportunities for stars of the future; less security in the industry and culture that supports snowsports; a growing threat to the health and vibrancy of the snowsports sector. And all the ensuing performance and environmental impacts. The potential future scenario- in a world without winter sports and host venues as we know them is a grave one. I have cherished the last three decades in snowsports. But I harbour mounting fears for where we could be in another 30 years’ time.
Focusing on the games’ impact and reducing the carbon load of one mega event alone isn’t going to slow global warming. POW wants to see the International Olympics Committee, along with the outdoors community, come together to play a vital role in pushing governments to achieve systemic solutions to the way we source, distribute, and consume energy.
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