Start the season later, review the competition calendar to reduce travel and, above all, be more transparent in your environmental work.
These are some of the measures that the organization Protect Our Winters wants to see from the International Ski Federation.
But the protest, which is supported by nearly 34,000 people, is countered by Fis president Johan Eliasch.
It is above all an image from 2019, which was used in the campaign, that he questions. The picture is said to show how machines dig into glaciers.
The POW organization claims that they did this again this year to prepare the slopes for the season premiere in Sölden.
– That they come up with the argument that we are destroying glaciers, that is nothing we have anything to do with. To then show a picture of a glacier that has nothing to do with our races – that is wrong, says FIS president Johan Eliasch to SVT Sport.
Vice-chairman of Protect Our Winters, Clara Edwards, believes that the organization has been clear that the picture is not from Sölden or from this year.
– Regardless of whether we have used different images in different time periods, this shows that it has been done for a long period, for 35 years, but we do not think it is acceptable anymore, Edwards tells SVT.
– It is difficult to take them seriously after they have done such a thing, which is not a mistake, but clearly with the intention of getting people to become aggressive towards Fis, says Johan Eliasch, who points out that his criticism is aimed at POW and not against the active.
– They should know that we take this very seriously, says Eliasch, who wants to review the competition calendar to reduce travel. The association has also started a project to preserve the rainforest to compensate for its emissions.
– There are studies that show that this type of compensation is useless. So if they have done as much climate action as they say they have, we want to see transparent and clear reports on that and not just empty words, says Clara Edwards.
