Climate change poses enormous challenges for winter sports in particular: The lack of snowfall, even at higher altitudes, is putting pressure on both tourism and the sports industry. At the same time, sport offers a unique platform to unite people from different cultures around common goals, such as protecting our climate. This is precisely where the Swiss Olympic Climate Fund comes in.
With the Swiss Olympic Climate Fund, Swiss Olympic is using its role as an umbrella organisation to take responsibility and implement targeted measures for greater sustainability in sport. The Swiss Olympic Climate Fund was therefore founded together with myclimate in 2023.
From Desire to Implementation: Climate Protection Through Targeted Funding
The principle is simple: half of the fund's resources, which are contributed by sports organisations and partner companies, flow directly into CO₂-reducing measures in everyday sport. For example, various football clubs have already benefited from energy consultations and the particularly sustainable construction of the “Home of Beach” beach volleyball centre in Bern has been financially supported.
Progress is also being made in the area of travel: teams such as Swiss Aquatics or the U20 rugby team are increasingly using trains instead of planes thanks to fund support, a simple but effective measure to reduce emissions.
The other half of the funds are used to promote climate protection projects through myclimate – both locally and globally. One flagship project: the replacement of diesel generators with innovative, electrically powered electricity generation devices. These low-emission battery systems were used for the TV broadcast at the 2025 Mountain Bike World Championships in Crans-Montana: an innovation that saves several tonnes of CO₂. Another example from the world of winter sports: thanks to the support of the Swiss Olympic Climate Fund, mountain railways are gradually converting their fleet of snow groomers to electric alternatives.
International Recognition for a Forward-looking Model
The Swiss Olympic Climate Fund is also attracting international attention: in 2024, it was honoured by the International Olympic Committee with the Climate Action Award – as an innovative model that reaches many individuals, motivates them to get involved and anchors the topic of climate protection in sport.
Angelika Siegfried, specialist for space and environment at Swiss Olympic, sums it up:
In sport, it's the fighting spirit that counts – even when it comes to climate protection. We must not give up, but continue to fight to pass our planet on to future generations in the best possible condition. I look forward to continuing to implement strong measures and effective projects with myclimate.
