Winter sports fuelled by oil: a lesson in inauthentic engagement with scrutiny

As oil and gas companies, airlines, and automotive brands continue to sponsor winter sports events, negative contributions to climate change remain their primary association in the minds of viewers and athletes.

It is not a difficult paradox to understand: the industrial activities of high-carbon sponsors of winter sports are part of a collective that is making the conditions for those sports increasingly challenging.  Last month, British Winter Olympian Lizzy Yarnold commented: “At their best, winter sports are a celebration of people enjoying some of the most awesome landscapes on Earth. 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.”