FIS and WMO partnership highlights the harmful effects of climate change on winter sports and tourism

Oct 03, 2024·Inside FIS

It is the first time that the UN’s World Meteorological Organization partners with an international sports federation.
WMO and its National Meteorological and Hydrological Services will provide data and expertise in joint initiatives to raise awareness and promote concrete change.

The International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) have announced a new partnership to raise awareness of the fact that winter sports and tourism face a bleak future because of climate change.

A new Memorandum of Understanding commits the organizations to work together to highlight the far-reaching impacts of rising global temperatures on snow and ice cover and to establish practical initiatives to strengthen scientific and sporting dialogue. This is the first time that the United Nations’ specialized agency partners with an international sports federation.

“Ruined winter vacations and cancelled sports fixtures are – literally – the tip of the iceberg of climate change. 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,” says WMO Secretary General Celeste Saulo.

The climate crisis is obviously far bigger than FIS − or sports, for that matter: it is a genuine crossroads for mankind. It is true, though, that climate change is, simply put, an existential threat to skiing and snowboarding. We would be remiss if we did not pursue every possible effort that is rooted in science and objective analysis. This is what we are trying to follow and what is at the core of this promising partnership with the WMO.– Johan Eliasch, FIS President

In 2023/24, FIS organized 616 World Cup races among all disciplines, spanning across 166 venues. Twenty-six races were cancelled for weather-related reasons.

The agreement

The agreement enters into effect ahead of the 2024/25 winter season and is set for an initial period of five years with the possibility of automatic renewal. It paves the way for a broad scope of joint activities and initiatives that bring the science-based data and expertise of the WMO and its National Meteorological and Hydrological Services to the heart of snow sports and mountain tourism, an area in which the impact of climate change is becoming increasingly evident.

Every year, the two parties will define the slate of initiatives to be implemented, and the first ones are already planned for the next few weeks: on 7 November, the partnership will host a webinar for all 137 National Ski Associations, as well as venue managers and event organizers, on climate change and its potential impact on snow and ice and snow sports, including an overview on advancing forecasting tools in support of optimizing snow management around ski resorts.

Changing snow cover

A number of studies have explored the impact of climate change on winter sports and tourism, as these are substantial components of the economy of mountainous and Nordic regions:

A study by French and Austrian scientists published in 2023 in Nature Climate Change that focused on 2,234 ski resorts in 28 European countries found that “without snowmaking, 53% and 98% of these resorts are projected to be at very high risk for snow supply under global warming of 2 °C and 4 °C, respectively.” The study highlighted the broader environmental and climate challenges including the need to limit global warning through a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
Switzerland - which hosts both FIS and WMO – has conducted detailed Climate Change Scenarios: Alpine glaciers have lost about 60% of their volume since 1850. Moreover, at altitudes below 800 meters, the number of days with snowfall has halved since 1970, with precipitation falling as rain rather than snow, according to the Swiss federal office of meteorology and climatology MeteoSwiss.
Fifty years ago, the zero-degree level sat at around 600m above sea level. Today, with winters becoming warmer, the level sits at around 850m. The Swiss Climate Change Scenarios CH2018 predict that the zero-degree level will climb a further 400‒650m by 2060 without climate change mitigation. This will take it to an altitude of around 1,300–1,500m.

Background information

FIS has laid out its views and plans regarding climate action earlier this year in the FIS Impact Programme.

WMO’s Executive Council earlier this year agreed to elevate the cryosphere to one of its top priorities, reflecting growing international concern about melting ice, snow and permafrost. Some 70% of Earth’s fresh water exists as snow or ice and around 10% of Earth’s land area is covered by glaciers or ice sheets. Changes in the cryosphere – that is, the frozen parts of the Earth system – therefore affect the entire planet.

WMO’s annual State of the Climate reports provide regularly updated information about the cryosphere, including glacier retreat, sea ice and snow cover.

Over the last decades, global warming has led to widespread shrinking of the cryosphere. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, we are witnessing the melting of the Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets and glaciers, reductions in snow cover, Arctic and around Antarctica sea ice extent and thickness and thawing of permafrost in the Arctic and mountain regions.

The thawing of frozen ground in mountain, arctic and sub-artic regions has direct consequences on the stability of infrastructures build on it, as well as contributing to increasing the amount of carbon in the atmosphere. The changes in snowfall and snow cover not only have an effect on winter tourism but also hydropower and transportation.