The FIS is in the pillory: climate protection is just an act?

The environmental organization Greenpeace and the “Protect Our Winters” initiative have criticized the climate policy of the International Ski Federation FIS. This is unusually violent.

23 May 2023

From: dpa/fop

A study has shown that the four major events of the Alpine racing calendar in Kitzbühel, Schladming, Adelboden and Sölden alone account for 85 percent of the total emissions specified by the FIS for this discipline, according to a joint statement from the two organizations. Over 30 other World Cup events and hundreds of other racing events are not yet taken into account.

These and other results of the study would suggest that the FIS figures were “unrealistic and calculated far too low”. FIS President Johan Eliasch is called upon to “stop the greenwashing,” the statement says: “In addition, the FIS should decide on real climate protection measures at its congress this Thursday and make the racing calendar for the winter season climate-friendly.”

FIS President Johan Eliasch is called upon to act immediately. © ANSA / CHRISTIAN BRUNA

The FIS is telling “winter fairy tales when it claims to protect the climate or even to be climate positive,” Ursula Bittner, economic expert at Greenpeace in Austria, is quoted as saying. “In reality, professional teams and spectators are sent across the globe to take part in the events. The FIS under President Eliasch is thus driving forward the climate crisis and destroying its own basis for existence. White winters are then a thing of the past.”

Austrian ski racer Julian Schütter, who is a member of Protect Our Winters, said: “We all love winter sports, which is why we need an international association that takes climate protection seriously. So far, only empty promises have come from the Fis.