Oilympics: The Games on Skinny Ice

To the International Olympic Committee

The world is within the grip of a local weather disaster that’s already destroying lives, communities, and full ecosystems. At this second – when international cooperation and ethical management are extra important than ever – the Olympic motion, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) itself, ought to stand as a beacon of integrity and unity, utilizing its distinctive energy to deliver collectively disparate teams and lead the world towards a greater future.

That is why we’re calling on you to finish all present and future sponsorship and partnership agreements with oil and gasoline firms, together with Eni, for the Winter Olympics and Paralympics.

Fossil gas corporations have knowingly pushed the local weather disaster for many years. Their actions proceed to speed up the lack of the very winter landscapes, snowpack, and environmental stability upon which the Winter Olympics and Paralympics rely. According to analysis commissioned by the IOC, by the 2080s over half of IOC appropriate places shall be climatically unreliable to host the Winter Olympics. Instead of paying for the injury they’ve triggered – by means of fines, taxes, and significant contributions to local weather justice – these corporations are spending huge sums on sponsorships to cleanse their public picture and affiliate themselves with the values of athletic excellence and international unity.

Allowing oil and gasoline firms, like Eni, to sponsor the Olympic and Paralympic Games permits reputation-laundering that straight contradicts the Olympic values – particularly the dedication to respect athletes, defend the atmosphere, and serve the general public. It undermines athletes who’re already talking out about how the local weather disaster is damaging their sports activities, weakens public belief within the Olympic motion, and aligns the Games with industries whose actions threaten the way forward for sport itself.

We urge the IOC to make use of its distinctive place of worldwide belief and affect to once more present management. The IOC was a world chief within the battle towards tobacco, banning promoting in 1988 within the face of irrefutable proof concerning the unfavorable well being impacts of smoking. It was the suitable resolution and the IOC’s daring and decisive motion has been not solely vindicated however lauded. The proof that local weather change poses critical well being dangers at a world scale is overwhelming. We once more implore the IOC to interrupt ties with fossil gas sponsors and work as an alternative with companions who replicate the Olympic Charter’s dedication to respect, duty, and a sustainable future for all.

The world is watching the Winter Olympics. Athletes are watching. Young individuals – those that will inherit this disaster – are watching. We have seen earlier than how international sporting occasions are used to launder the reputations of polluters. The Olympics and Paralympics ought to encourage hope, not present cowl for these fueling local weather destruction.

It’s time to decide on a unique path.

Drop oil and gasoline sponsorship from the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games – and decide to ending fossil gas sponsorship throughout all Olympic Games.