Lizzy Yarnold: GB's two-time Winter Olympic champion calls for stop on high-carbon sponsorship deals
- Published
There was a distinct lack of snow before Adelboden prepared to host the FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup on 6 January
Sponsorship deals with companies with high carbon emissions is "like winter sport nailing the lid on its own coffin," says Lizzy Yarnold, Great Britain's most decorated Winter Olympian.
New research from campaign group Badvertising found that there are currently more than 100 sponsorship deals in place in elite winter sports with high carbon companies.
That covers deals with winter sports organisations, event organisers, teams and individual athletes.
"At their best winter sports are a celebration of people enjoying some of the most awesome landscapes on Earth," said two-time Winter Olympic champion Yarnold.
"But the impact of climate pollution is now melting the snow and ice which these sports depend on.
"Having high carbon sponsors is like winter sport nailing the lid on its own coffin - and it needs to stop."
The 34-year-old announced her retirement from skeleton in 2018.
The research from Badvertising found:
107 high carbon sponsorship deals with firms such as car makers, fossil fuel companies and airlines.
Each year the snow cover in the northern hemisphere shrinks by an additional estimated 90,600 square kilometres due to climate change.
Many European ski resorts face closures and disruptions this winter due to lack of snow.
This year's ski season was put in doubt due to the unseasonably warm wet weather in the Alps. The snow season in the Alps is now 36 days shorter than the long-term average.
The Para-snowboard World Championships this January were postponed because of a lack of snow and record temperatures have led to the cancellation of World Cup events in the Italian, Austrian and Swiss Alps.
A new study by the University of Basel warns that higher resorts will have to rely increasingly on artificial snow to survive, raising their water consumption by up to 80%. This could cause conflict between the winter sports industry and local communities, whose energy comes from hydropower.
Anna Turney, British alpine skier and Paralympian, said: "We are confronted with climate change at a terrifying rate.
"Right now the organisers of major winter sports events are signing sponsorship deals with companies that are disproportionately responsible for melting the snow and ice. I want to feel proud of my sport, of winter sports. I want others to experience the joys and the challenges of snow sports. I also want a healthy planet for everyone.
"It's time for the sports governing bodies to broaden their perspectives and find the courage to behave more like the athletes they supposedly support. Together we need to face the truth, step up to the challenges we face and protect our sport and our planet."
Last year, Tennis Australia ended its multi-year sponsorship deal with oil and gas giant, Santos, after concerns were raised by campaigners over 'sportswashing'.
Anna Jonsson, co-director of New Weather Sweden, says the case exemplifies a "growing international momentum behind sports events ditching high-carbon sponsors over climate change concerns".
She added: "Winter sports must end its relationship with polluting companies that use sponsorship to improve their corporate image, while their business activities undermine the very future of winter sports."
Analysis
David Lockwood, BBC Sport
A societal change is underway, a move away from fossil fuels, but the argument being put forward is that companies that have profited for so long from polluting the planet have a vested interest in slowing the rate of change.
The benefits to airlines and car companies in sponsoring sporting events are obvious, but there was arguably no need for European football fans to know a Russian business to business energy supplier. Fans are not going to be getting their bank cards out to make a purchase, the purpose is far more subtle.
An advertising ban on companies like this would send the message that fossil fuels need to be removed from our culture and our behaviours, it would send a message that the old fossil fuel economy is increasingly socially unacceptable. The same happened with smoking, there are similar calls around gambling - the message and the benefits of a ban are the same.
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