In the face of global warming, biathlon and other winter sports are facing an immense challenge. The IBU has established an action plan that has enabled to reduce its carbon emissions by 7% between 2022-2023 and 2023-2024. The body's latest sustainability report also highlights that 71% of organizing committees reduced their environmental impact in 2023-2024 compared to the previous season. Max Cobb, IBU Secretary General, discusses the federation's approach in the second part of his interview with Francs Jeux.
How do we build the future of a snow sport in a world that is only getting warmer?
It's a big challenge, and we take it very seriously. Sustainability is a central part of our strategy. We have a goal of reducing our carbon footprint by 50% and achieving carbon neutrality by 2030. It's a very ambitious goal. We may not reach it, but you have to set goals that you're not sure you'll achieve. This pushes us to work very aggressively. From a practical perspective, we've also trained our snow network to bring together all the people who deal with snow in the regular organizing committees, to share information on how they store snow during the summer, how they work during the winter to provide the best conditions for the athletes (since the launch of the network in 2021, the sites have reduced their needs by an average of 2.600 m3 of snow per year).
Organizers in Finland were pioneers in snow storage about XNUMX years ago. They realized that the best way to ensure skiing conditions from the start of the season was to make snow during the coldest part of winter and then cover it with wood chips for insulation. When you make snow at the coldest time of year, the efficiency is maximum in terms of electricity and water requirements. Our sport has this solution: as long as we have a week of cold temperatures each winter, we will be able to ensure snow for the following winter's competitions. We will rely on this for the next XNUMX years. No one knows exactly what will happen climate-wise, but I think we should be ok for the next XNUMX years.
In Pokljuka, Emilien Jacquelin criticized the snow conditions and expressed his support for fewer competition weeks during the season. What do you think?
The fundamental problem is our ability to generate revenue, which largely goes to the federations and athletes through prize money. Around 80% of revenue goes to support the federations and athletes. If we have fewer events, we will have less revenue. That's the equation. At the moment, we have 70 World Cup competitions. We don't think we can compress the calendar much more. The athletes and coaches have been clear, it's difficult to go further because we need to give them periods to train, at the end of the year or before the World Championships. The question would be: would we accept a 10% drop in revenue by reducing the calendar? I don't think the national federations would agree. It's a question of balance. We must also remember that it's very hard to predict when the weather will be bad. Sometimes, the beginning of March is great in terms of conditions, but that wasn't the case here. So far, our community is pretty happy.
💬 Émilien Jacquelin: "For the past few weeks, the IBU has perhaps been going in the wrong direction. (…) When we have weekends like this, we have to ask ourselves the question, 'What should we do? What image do we want to show of our sport?'" #lequipeBIATHLON pic.twitter.com/heBgfiPTom
— la chaine L'Équipe (@lachainelequipe) March 13, 2025
Having more races generates more revenue, but isn't it less relevant in terms of responsibility and climate footprint?
In reality, we're not increasing the number of competitions, even with the new calendar. We have ten World Cup stages, plus the World Championships, but the number of races remains the same. Furthermore, we've reduced the frequency of the Summer Biathlon World Championships, which represent a fairly significant carbon footprint. From now on, they're no longer held every year but every two years.
However, there will be ten World Cup stages in 2026-2027, compared to nine last season, and that makes a big difference in terms of carbon impact given the travel involved.
Yes, that's correct. The first round of the World Cup usually takes place over two weekends, and as a result, we're moving the four competitions usually held on the first weekend (usually relays, editor's note) toward New Year's Day weekend. We are prioritizing logistics for athletes and teams traveling between events. We have tried to be economically thoughtful and as environmentally friendly as possible regarding the January block of competitions. Distances are relatively short between venues to facilitate travel and limit the need for air travel. By postponing the Summer Biathlon World Championships every two years, we will have a net reduction in our impact, even in years when athletes compete on that extra weekend.
"Athletes challenge themselves by setting goals they don't think they can achieve. As an organization, we need to embrace this philosophy."
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The IBU has implemented a sustainability strategy for the period 2020-2030. Are you satisfied with your mid-term position?
Yes and no. We realized that the main issue is the movement of fans. (73% of carbon emissions from IBU events)We've deliberately shifted our focus to focus our efforts in this direction. The Ruhpolding organizing committee has managed to limit its carbon footprint by reducing the number of spectators. This is a good example: they've found a business model that works better for them because the more fans you welcome, the more you have to spend on infrastructure, managing flows, and so on. If you lower the number of tickets you sell but lower your costs elsewhere, you can consistently reduce your carbon footprint. This doesn't take away from the incredible atmosphere in Ruhpolding.
We are trying to encourage organizers to include public transportation in competition tickets. All public transportation in Munich will be free for those with a ticket for the Loop One FestivalIn Chur, Switzerland, transport to the Lenzerheide venue was free for ticket holders. We encourage organizers to consider the most efficient means of travel for fans. Achieving our goal will depend on how society adopts low-carbon means of transport to attend our events: electric or hydrogen vehicles, increased use of public transport, etc. This is not entirely within our control, we accept that. But we want to be at the forefront, challenging ourselves, our community, national federations, and fans to help us reduce our footprint. Successful athletes always say they challenge themselves by setting goals they don't think they can achieve. As an organization, we must embrace this philosophy.
