Are ski hours counted in France and Europe? This activity, which arrived in France with the Universal Exposition of 1878, could drastically disappear in the coming decades due to climate change.
According to an international study published on August 28 in Nature Climate Change, carried out by climate researchers and engineers from France’s National Center for Meteorological Research, an average increase of 4°C could endanger almost all of the 2,234 ski resorts in France. 28 European countries. countries.
However, this scenario of an increase in average temperatures of 4° C is a hypothesis that the National Council for the Ecological Transition takes seriously for metropolitan France.
71% of the stations at risk from artificial snow
Without using artificial snow, it appears that 53% of the resorts would be at “very high” risk of lack of snow if the increase were 2°C. By resorting to the production of artificial snow, the proportion of stations at risk would be reduced to 27% (2°C increase) and 71% (4°C).
But artificial snow has “little effect” in low-lying areas or located too far south, since temperatures that are too high do not allow effective snowfall.
Additionally, snowmaking may contribute to accelerating climate change due to the high energy demand it induces, the article notes. This also results in increased demand for water, he notes.
In the end, the main message of the study to decision makers “is that yes, snow production can support the adaptation of winter sports resorts and have a direct effect on the operational capacity of ski areas. But this solution is not generic, “It is not a miraculous solution that we can apply everywhere in a systematic way”, explains to AFP the main author of the study, the Grenoble researcher Hugues François.
10 billion euros to ski in France
In France, for example, “ski lifts are a public service,” which means “skiing is very political.” “There are few regions in Europe where the public authorities intervene as strongly as in France.”
To this model, Switzerland and Austria, two other large ski countries, prefer “forms of development led by local unions, private law, with an often more pragmatic and on-the-ground approach,” he considers.
Half of the world’s ski resorts are located in Europe, where they generate an annual turnover of more than 30 billion euros and represent a very important windfall for local economies, even if it only represents 3% of revenue direct global tourism-related in Europe. points out this study.
France alone has 250 alpine ski resorts and 200 ski resort companies. The sector obtains 10 billion euros a year in economic benefits.
Source: BFM TV
