How can we protect the snow that we love?

There is nothing quite as magical as playing in fresh, deep snow. Many of us are also passionate about participating in, or watching, exciting winter sports. But whether it is flying to the Alps to watch the Winter Olympics or jetting off on your annual skiing holiday, the way we choose to travel to the snow is causing it to disappear at an ever faster rate.

The carbon footprint of a ski holiday

Roughly speaking, the carbon footprint of an average one-week ski trip breaks down like this:

As you can see, skiing is a relatively low-carbon activity. Most of the emissions are generated during your travel to the resort. In fact, travel accounts for up to two-thirds of the total footprint of a skiing holiday.

So when you plan your next holiday in the snow, consider resorts closer to home, and better still, ones you can reach by public transport.

The Winter Olympics

The Winter Olympics put the world’s spotlight on the mountains, and, increasingly, on the elephant in the room: climate change.

Take the 2026 Games in Milan-Cortina. Much of the snow was artificially created, and research shows Europe’s glaciers are shrinking faster than almost anywhere else on the planet, though it is not too late to save them if we act. Global warming has become an existential threat to the future of the Winter Olympics, and of winter sports in general.

Chasing snow

Olympic athletes are increasingly worried. Shorter, milder winters mean less snow, forcing competitors to abandon their usual training grounds in search of more reliable conditions. They call it “chasing snow”.

Marion Thénault, a Canadian freestyle skier working to become the first carbon-neutral Olympic athlete, has been vocal about the contradiction: “One of the things that is sad is we increase our environmental impact by chasing the snow, so we’re actually contributing to the problem.”

Thénault measures her carbon footprint every year and, unsurprisingly, flying is the biggest contributor. “Eighty-six per cent of my carbon emissions are due to air travel.” She has cut her impact by taking buses and trains instead of short flights, not flying home between competitions, and cycling to training where she can. “I generally go one night earlier by another mode of transport.” The added benefit? She arrives better rested. “I think it’s not true to say that climate action as an athlete is detrimental to performance. I’ve had some pretty good results, so we need to deconstruct that misconception.”

It is heartening to see athletes focused on their own impact. But, as at most major sporting events, the single biggest source of emissions at the Winter Olympics is spectator travel.

One analysis of the 2026 Winter Olympics found the Games generated around 930,000 tonnes of CO2e, with the largest share, roughly 410,000 tonnes, coming from spectator travel. Fans flying in were responsible for over 44% of the emissions, while generating just 13% of the revenue.

The same analysis found that the emissions from just three sponsorship deals added another 1.3 million tonnes of CO2, more than the entire event. One of those three sponsors? ITA Airways, the national airline of Italy.

Spectator Travel = 44% of total emissions

What can you do?

If you love snow-covered mountains and winter sports and want to try and help preserve them, here are some actions you could take:

• Take public transport to the slopes whenever possible.
• If you have to fly, use our Passenger Action Checklist. It will help you to minimise the environmental impact of your flight.
• Enjoy winter sports from the comfort of your own living room.
• Support Protect Our Winters – an organisation that helps outdoor enthusiasts become climate advocates.
  • Sign their Clean Miles campaign to provide ‘public transport that’s affordable, reliable, well-connected, and designed for adventure.’
• Back schemes like the AlpinExpress Pass and seek out resorts doing the most on climate.

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