Who’s Making Skiing Sustainable?
We contacted ski resorts around the world to find out which ones are measuring their carbon emissions and which aren’t.
Why ski resorts?
Because we love the mountains, fresh snow and the thrill of heading downhill.
But if we want future generations to experience real snow, the industry must act now.
Can I add my resort onto the list?
Yes! simply contact us. We will then update the table with your information.
And, if you haven’t measured your emissions yet but want to start, then get in touch here. We can help.
Is it a league table?
Not really. Although we would love it if this encouraged more resorts to start taking action.
We don’t need one resort being perfect, we need everyone doing something.
What did you do?
We (ecollective & Inghams) sent a lot of emails. We asked ski lift companies to tell us:
Are they are measuring their emissions; and
Are they reporting them publicly?
Here’s what we found when we asked the world’s most visited ski resorts about their emissions.
Key findings
We’ve gleaned a few useful bits of information from our research...
1. Most of your ski trip’s emissions come from how you get there.
Skiing itself is a relatively low carbon footprint activity. Your use of ski lifts and ski runs will have a smaller footprint than your hotels, meals, ski kit or travel. So pick your next ski trip based on the shortest flight, or better yet according to where you can travel to by train. For comparison a return flight from London to Geneva in economy has a carbon footprint of 228kg of CO2e for 1 person. The same return journey by train could have emissions of 70kgs or lower.
2. Many resorts still don’t know their carbon footprint.
This has to change. There are few industries more impacted by climate change, and we feel it is imperative all ski resorts start taking steps to measure, report and reduce their emissions.
3. It’s complicated but that’s no excuse for inaction.
Some ski resorts have better data, some have different business structures. Some have old data, some have only half of the information. So this is an imperfect start. We need progress over perfection. In the coming years we hope to grow this list as well as provide more detailed information.
4. Not all resorts are equal - some are way ahead.
The reason why resort carbon footprints vary so much comes down to three things:
1. How much fuel a resort uses for heating or making vehicles move.
2. How "green" their electricity is for powering lifts and snow machines.
3. How long the company has been taking action on carbon.
Follow in their tracks - Measure and Report!
Join the resorts leading the charge by measuring and sharing your carbon footprint. Let’s make transparency the new norm in skiing.