Presidential elections for the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) are happening this this Thursday 11 June 2026. FIS presidents hold the position for a four-year term and are responsible for FIS statues, governance, the race calendar and more, including climate commitments and race sponsors. In other words, the FIS president helps shape how winter sports evolve and adapt – especially as climate change threatens the snowscapes that these sports are built upon.
Ahead of the elections, Protect Our Winters Europe and its national POW chapters assessed the climate action and sustainability commitments of each FIS presidential candidate ahead of elections. We asked all three candidates eight questions about their climate and sustainability commitments.
The three candidates; incumbent Johan Eliasch (Georgia), Victoria Gosling (United Kingdom) and Alexander Ospelt (Liechtenstein); present climate and sustainability platforms that vary in depth and ambition.
At the time of publication, only Eliasch and Ospelt responded to POW’s questionnaire. Gosling did not respond to our requests for comment and, therefore, POW only assessed her position from her published program.
Eliasch comes with decades of experience with climate action organisations, has explicitly listed emission reduction targets and already aligns with several of POW’s demands. On fossil fuel sponsorship, however, his platform pledges to avoid associations with high-impact industries, but he declined to explicitly exclude fossil fuel companies by name, preferring to assess partners case by case on their values rather than rule out sectors. "The key question should not simply be what sector a company belongs to, but whether its conduct, strategy and values are compatible with the values of FIS,” Eliasch wrote to POW.
Similarly, Ospelt is not in favour of a blanket ban of sponsorships from fossil fuel or similar industries. “The key question is whether a partnership is compatible with the values, credibility and long-term interests of FIS,” he said in POW’s questionnaire. When it comes to climate target commitments and implementation, Ospelt said that he would continue with FIS’ impact targets and would be open to strengthening sustainability structures already in place. However, he will not commit to publishing annual emission reduction milestones or making FIS’ CO₂ Calculator mandatory.
Unlike the other candidates, Gosling named climate as one of her five priorities in her platform. Though she did not respond to our questionnaire, she committed to a climate-intelligent calendar reform, which would include a climate assessment of each event, measurable outputs and a governance review. However, her program does not reference specific existing climate commitments, such as the UN Sports for Climate Action and UNFCCC Race to Zero.
POW is not endorsing any single candidate for FIS president. Instead, POW plans to work with whoever is elected FIS president to ensure that climate change is at the top of their agenda – and to hold candidates accountable to their commitments made during the election period.
“We all need to pull in the same direction so that we can keep enjoying our beautiful mountains in the future. As the sport’s governing body, FIS has a responsibility to lead by example and to put an ambitious climate strategy in place.”
— Michelle Gisin, two-time Olympic champion and POW member
“It’s important for FIS to have a strong climate policy. As the federation representing snow sports, it’s an obvious beneficiary of any climate action. That’s why it’s important to lead by example in order to make sure that snow sports remain attractive and accessible, both financially and logistically, for the many.”
— Daniel Yule, World Cup winner and POW member
“Snow sports have more to lose from climate change than any other sport, which is exactly why the FIS president has to treat it as a core issue. We expect to see climate action and sustainability embedded in how FIS is governed, and in what it actually delivers.”
— Jonas Schneider, Executive Director, Protect Our Winters Europe
Background
In early 2023, POW published an open letter to FIS signed by more than 500 athletes, resulting from POW’s Try Harder campaign. More recently, we have built sustained engagement with national federations across our 16 chapters worldwide in the lead-up to this election. That work has produced significant institutional progress at FIS over the past three years: the first FIS Impact Programme, significantly improved emissions reporting methodology applied in the latest season, establishment of a dedicated Sustainability Unit, and 50% emissions reduction targets by 2030 and net-zero by 2040 aligned with the UNFCCC Race to Zero framework FIS has signed.
Climate change is an existential threat to the survival of the snow sports that we love. The future of winter sport will be reflected in the choices the FIS president makes now.
