Gästbloggare
It’s just one week until the Winter Olympics open in Sochi. Since the snow came rather late this year to this part of the world, and December was relatively warm, I’ve been wondering how winter sports are likely to be affected by climate change. It turns out that people are concerned.
A year ago 75 US winter sports champions wrote an open letter to President Obama. “We are witnessing climate change first-hand,” they wrote, “without a doubt, winter is in trouble”.
Earlier this month researchers from Canada and Austria published a report on the climate suitability of the former host cities of the Winter Olympics. They concluded that by 2050, even with a low emission scenario, seven of the 18 locations will no longer be climatically reliable, and by 2080 there is a risk that less than half would be able to host the games again, even with all the technological support that’s now available (read the full report).
The Olympic Committee is aware of their responsibility, with sustainability added to the Olympic Charter in 1996 as the third dimension of Olympism, along with sport and culture. And since 2002 each host city of the Olympic Winter Games has taken significant steps to minimise climate impact, including by offsetting thousands of tons of unavoidable emissions. So the Winter Olympics are setting the standard for sporting events worldwide. I encourage others to follow.
