Gstaad partners with Climeworks for carbon dioxide removal this winter season
Climate change is the biggest challenge of our time, also affecting winter sports. In Switzerland, the zero-degree level has already risen in winter and more and more ski regions use snow cannons to prepare their slopes. The question arises whether skiing can be sustainable. This winter season, skiers can directly contribute to fighting climate change for the first time, thanks to the new cooperation between Gstaad and Climeworks.
Being one of the most popular ski regions in Switzerland, Gstaad advocates the responsible handling of resources and its intact nature already for a long time. For this skiing season, Gstaad has partnered with Swiss company Climeworks. Climeworks is the market leader for direct air capture – a technology that removes carbon dioxide from the air.
The new cooperation enables skiers to remove CO₂ from the air and thus take climate action
Carbon dioxide removal is one important solution that is required to achieve global climate goals. In order to limit global warming to 1.5°C, we have to reduce current emissions drastically. In addition, humanity must actively remove several billion tons of CO₂ from the atmosphere per year. Thus, historic as well as unavoidable emissions can be removed to achieve net zero emissions.
The new cooperation makes Climeworks’ carbon dioxide removal solution accessible to skiers in Gstaad: the ski passes in Gstaad include a CHF 5 deposit that visitors can normally reclaim at the end of their ski day. They now have the opportunity to spend the money on actively removing 5kg of CO₂ from the air with Climeworks’ carbon dioxide removal. Thus, they make a positive contribution to our climate after their skiing activities.
“Climeworks offers innovative and sustainable solutions that are perfectly suited for the development of Destination Gstaad. Namely the compensation of greenhouse gas emissions that currently cannot be avoided. This cooperation is a first pilot project, which will guide the further development of Gstaad”, says Michel Hediger, product manager of Gstaad Marketing.
“We are very happy about the cooperation with Destination Gstaad. Being a passionate winter sports enthusiast myself, I am especially excited to give other enthusiasts the opportunity to take climate action”, says Christoph Gebald, co-CEO and co-founder of Climeworks.
Key take-aways:
Instead of reclaiming their CHF 5 ski pass deposit, skiers can opt to remove 5kg of CO₂ from the air