News

Ski Resorts and Climate Change: An unknown future

EJP Research Fellow Loïc Giaccone was recently interviewed for an Outside media story on the future of ski resorts in a changing climate (in French). A brief summary: Ski areas are threatened by rising temperatures, melting glaciers, thawing permafrost at high altitude and declining snow cover. However, the ski resorts represent an important part of the economy of the mountain valleys, which depends a lot on tourism. Some ski areas prefer to invest in snowmaking machines rather than question their development model. Unfortunately, artificial snow can only be produced if it is cold enough. At low altitudes, even with snow guns, the sustainability of the ski business is compromised, and this is already the case in the short term for certain regions. It is necessary to start thinking about and planning for the transition of the most threatened sectors as of today.