Sustainability of snowmaking as climate change (mal)adaptation: an assessment of water, energy, and emissions in Canada’s ski industry

Abstract

As climate change continues to impact the snowpack in ski areas globally, operators rely increasingly on snowmaking to maintain ski seasons and visitor experience. Increased reliance on machine-made snow has implications for the sustainability of ski tourism. This study provides the first national estimate of water, energy, and CO2 emissions and projected changes under low (RCP2.6), mid (RCP4.5), and high emission (RCP8.5) climate futures by the 2050s. A central estimates of snowmaking efficiency found Canada currently uses 478,000 megawatts (MWh) of electricity (with 130,095 tonnes of associated CO2 emission) and 43.4 million m3 of water to produce over 42 million m3 of technical snow. With snowmaking production requirements projected to increase between 55% and 97% by 2050 across low to high-emission climate futures, energy, and water use will increase proportionally. In contrast, future emissions associated with increased snowmaking would nonetheless decline substantially as provincial electricity grids are decarbonized under current policy targets. Regional differences in snowmaking requirements and emissions caused by provincial electricity-grid emission intensity and their important implications for ski tourism sustainability and snowmaking as (mal)adaptation are discussed.