Climate poses ‘high risk’ for Europe’s ski resorts

PARIS: At current rates of greenhouse gas emissions, which would see Earth´s surface warm nearly three degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, 90 percent of Europe´s ski resorts will eventually face critical shortages of natural snow, researchers said on Monday.

Even if the world caps global heating at the Paris climate treaty target of 1.5 degrees Celsius -- a very big if -- a third of the continent´s 2,234 resorts would still be highly vulnerable to snow scarcity, they reported in the journal Nature Climate Change.

At this lower temperature threshold, ski spots at higher altitudes and latitudes such as in Nordic countries and the French, Swiss and Austrian Alps can reduce climate risk through mechanical snowmaking.