About POW

We help passionate outdoor people protect the places and lifestyles they love from climate change.

POW Europe leverages the power of our network of ten national POW chapters in Europe, Austria, Germany, France, Switzerland, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK… and counting. From northernmost Lapland to the southern Alps and Pyrenees, our national chapters are strongly rooted in their communities and have their ear to the ground on national and local issues. POW Europe transforms those local strengths into cohesive and impactful Europe-wide climate action. At the same time, we amplify national campaigns, provide centralised, expert support to the network and a single, coordinated point of contact for European partners.

There are an estimated 60 million skiers and snowboarders in Europe, a third the number of people who voted in the last European elections. Together with climbers, alpinists and other outdoor enthusiasts, the massive outdoor recreation industry and our communities, we can be a powerful force and make the difference on climate.

Our History

In 2007, pro snowboarder Jeremy Jones saw that more and more resorts he’d always counted on for good riding were closed due to lack of snow. Something was clearly going on, and he felt the need to act. So Jeremy founded Protect Our Winters.

Pretty quickly, POW brought on other concerned pro athletes, individuals, resorts, brand partners and passionate outdoor enthusiasts. Since then, POW has grown from a kernel of an idea into a worldwide network of more than 150,000 supporters and over 200 athlete ambassadors. The first European chapter was started in 2013 in Norway and soon followed by others in Finland, Sweden, France, Austria and Germany, with POW UK and POW Switzerland both launching in 2017. Since 2020 we also have a presence in Italy and in 2023 POW Netherlands has joined our network. As climate change – and passion for the outdoors – knows no borders, POW is now also present in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.