New publication: Life cycle assessment of snow farming: a case study on climate change adaptation of cross-country skiing centers in Germany

Source: https://cec.cs.tum.de/en/news/article/new-publication-life-cycle-assessment-of-snow-farming-a-case-study-on-climate-change-adaptation-of-cross-country-skiing-centers-in-germany Parent: https://cec.cs.tum.de/en/news

2026-01-12 CEC

New publication: Life cycle assessment of snow farming: a case study on climate change adaptation of cross-country skiing centers in Germany

We are pleased to share our latest publication: “Life cycle assessment of snow farming: a case study on climate change adaptation of cross-country skiing centers in Germany”, now published in the Journal of Sustainable Tourism. The paper dives into the factors that influence the environmental impact of snow farming as a technical climate adaptation measure in cross-country skiing.

Lilli Schmitt, Sarah Haßlacher, Volker Audorff and, Magnus Fröhling examine the environmental impacts of snow farming at two German cross-country skiing centers using Life Cycle Assessment. Snow farming as a climate adaptation measure ensures early training and competition opportunities in cross-country skiing by storing snow produced technically during the previous season over the summer. The study reveals that over 90% of environmental impacts are attributed to damage to human health, primarily resulting from fossil fuel emissions from machinery and materials. However, depending on the specific site conditions, snow farming can be considered a potentially sensible adaptation strategy, as overall greenhouse gas emissions per training session are lower than for air travel to alternative training locations.

You can access the full publication here.