CANCELLED RACES, ARTIFICIAL SNOW
In the organisations’ joint statement, the WMO said the impact of climate change was “becoming increasingly evident” on winter sports and mountain tourism.
Climate change poses a severe challenge to the sport of skiing, which already makes almost routine use of artificial snow for most World Cup, world championship and Olympic races – a practice that consumes vast amounts of water and energy.
At the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, the downhill skiing events took place in a region affected by drought and the pistes were entirely artificially generated – something roundly criticised by environmental organisations.
The so-called “White Circus” continually travelling between competitions around the world has also been condemned by environmentalists for its carbon footprint.
In 2023 and 2024, the FIS organised 616 World Cup races across all disciplines, at 166 venues. Twenty-six races were cancelled for weather-related reasons.
The WMO and the FIS said they would work together to highlight the impacts of rising global temperatures on snow and ice, and set up practical ways to boost dialogue between science and sports.
“Ruined winter vacations and cancelled sports fixtures are – literally – the tip of the iceberg of climate change,” said WMO chief Celeste Saulo.
“Retreating glaciers, reduced snow and ice cover and thawing permafrost are having a major impact on mountain ecosystems, communities and economies and will have increasingly serious repercussions at local, national and global level for centuries to come.”
