As one of the world’s leading ski brands, Atomic understands the importance of collaboration to tackle the climate crisis head on and making efforts to save our snow. In a historic move to bring industry actors together to inspire and make the changes we need to see, Atomic hosted an inaugural Ski Industry Climate Summit on September 13 and 14, 2023, in Salzburg, Austria.
The groundbreaking summit brought together over 140 participants, including leading ski and snowboard brands such as Salomon, Rossignol, Head, Burton, and Decathlon, alongside associations like the European Outdoor Group and retailers, suppliers, and ski resort operators.
“As a leading voice in the industry, we see ourselves as holding both the responsibility and the opportunity to help lead meaningful action on sustainability, so that our customers can continue to enjoy winter sports now and in the future,” says Wolfgang Mayrhofer, President of Atomic.
Fostering collaboration for collective climate action
The summit—led by Atomic—served as a platform for dialogue, fostering major industry players to overcome collective climate-related challenges.
“Our goal was to share best practice, identify where all value chain actors can have the best possible impact, and agree on a shared path forward for making skiing and snowboarding truly sustainable,” says Wolfgang.
Among the key themes were educating the industry on upcoming climate-related regulations to ensure that these were seen as an opportunity to inspire transformation and innovation.
As a long-time advocate for using in-depth product data to produce and operate more sustainably, Atomic also shared its own substantial insights on data-driven climate action. This included sharing best practices on conducting lifecycle assessments (LCAs) and calculating carbon footprints across all operations for meaningful, targeted action.
Resolving to drive meaningful change, together
Agreed resolutions from the Ski Industry Climate Summit include:
- Developing a circular economy for the ski industry.
- Adopting sustainable data management across the value chain.
- Committing to product design with a lower environmental impact.
- Driving full decarbonization of the value chain.
The summit was supported by Protect Our Winters (POW). The promising outcome of the event is echoed in POW’s European Coordinator Jonas Schneider’s comment: “Together, we can achieve success on our shared journey towards a more sustainable future. This summit is not merely a first step; it illuminates the path forward.”
According to Wolfgang, the goal is to empower everyone in the value chain to see both the responsibility and the power they have to enact meaningful change:
“It’s about empowering the entire skiing network, including retailers, federations, and beyond. Every actor in the value chain has a meaningful role to play. It’s not just about what we do as a company; it’s about ensuring that the circle is complete, and everyone contributes to sustainable action.”
