‘Big irony’ as winter sports sponsored by climate polluters, report finds

France's Perrine Laffont competes in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. It was the first winter Games to rely almost entirely on artificial snow. Photograph: Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images

Winter sports are being sponsored by high-carbon companies despite their pollution helping to melt the snow the sports require to exist, according to a new report.

The report found that more than 100 events, organisations and athletes were sponsored by fossil fuel companies, carmakers and airlines. The sponsorships were like “winter sport nailing the lid on its own coffin”, said one Olympic champion.