The number of signatures under the open letter to the FIS has more than doubled. More and more German athletes are also demanding more climate protection from the World Ski Association.
Two days after publication, the open letter to the FIS bears the signatures of more than 300 athletes from the areas of alpine skiing, Nordic skiing, freeskiing, snowboarding, freeskiing and freeriding. This means that 160 supporters have been added since the Austrian alpine skier Julian Schütter presented the letter on Sunday (February 12, 2023) on the sidelines of the Alpine World Ski Championships in France.
30 signatures are now also coming from Germany, after freestyler Sabrina Cakmakli was the only signatory on Sunday. DSV board member Stefan Schwarzbach attributes this to the fact that the campaign was initially unknown to many. The DSV athlete spokesman Eric Frenzel (Nordic combined) only found out about it afterwards.
Few signatories from Nordic skiing
“I can imagine that the campaign will pick up speed even more when the Nordic World Ski Championships start in Planica next week,” said Schwarzbach of the sports show. In fact, athletes from the Nordic disciplines have so far been underrepresented with 48 signatures.
170 of the signatories and thus more than half come from Schütter’s alpine skiing discipline, including the two most prominent: World Cup record winner Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) and her boyfriend, two-time World Championships silver medalist Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (Norway).
Julian Schütter holds the open letter in his hands
“We see that the world is changing. And we see how it affects our sport”, said Kilde on Sunday at the World Cup. This winter many competitions had to be canceled due to high temperatures and lack of snow.
McGrath also signs
A new addition is Kilde’s compatriot Atle Lie McGrath. Otherwise, most of the signatories are young and/or less well-known. Like initiator Schütter, 91 come from Austria, 62 from the USA, where the organization involved “Protect our winters” is well connected.
With the open letter, the athletes demand that the international ski and snowboard federation FIS take stronger measures for climate protection. The association should set up a sustainability department, aim for climate neutrality by 2035, publish a clear plan to halve CO2 emissions by 2030 and show full transparency in all of this.
“We know the current sustainability efforts of the FIS and rate them as insufficient”, reads the letter addressed to President Johan Eliasch and Council members.
We know the current sustainability efforts of the FIS and rate them as insufficient.
“Sale of indulgences” with rainforest initiative
One of the criticisms is the claim that the FIS has been climate-positive for the second year in a row. It remains unclear how the bill behind it is supposed to work with the newly founded “FIS Rainforest Initiative”. Not only the sports show has recently received no answers from the world association to corresponding inquiries about details.
“Nothing is public, it is not transparent”, said Schütter in the Sportschau interview. “You can’t find any information on how much rainforest is being protected, how much they are investing there, how much CO2 the FIS actually emits as an organization. I tried to contact the FIS and find out more about it and didn’t get any answers at all.”
Schwarzbach also criticized the action, calling it “green washing” and “selling indulgences”. “That has nothing to do with sustainability and with reducing your own CO2 emissions.” Schwarzbach said of the open letter: “We think it’s basically positive that the athletes are dealing with this topic and are actively involved in the process both in our association and at the FIS.”