Pressure is mounting on Winter Sports to drop polluting sponsors

The 101st Vasaloppet took place at the beginning of March 2025, in slush and thaw. But that wasn't the only way the climate issue made itself felt. In the weeks leading up to the race, criticism of Vasaloppet's collaboration with, and advertising for, the oil company Preem grew ever stronger.

Photo by Adam Karls Johansson

It started with New Weather Sweden launching the campaign website in early February, Save the Vasaloppet, which ironically highlights how two of Vasaloppet's main sponsors melt the snow with their emissions. The site offers tips on how to make your voice heard, for example by emailing the Vasaloppet management or, as a Vasaloppet skier, wearing a black cap in silent protest. 

The following week, Badvertising released the report, Snow Angels, with figures on the Swedish population's attitudes to fossil advertising in winter sports in general and Vasaloppet's Preem advertising. The opinion poll, conducted by Novus in January, shows that 55% of Swedes want to see an end to Vasaloppet's advertising for Preem.

This news was reported in Dagens Nyheter where Vasaloppet CEO Johan Eriksson was asked if it matters what a sponsor represents. "Definitely, very much so", Eriksson replied. And when asked what Preem represents for Vasaloppet, Eriksson replied: "Transition". 

It is incomprehensible that an oil company with 98% fossil production and an annual reduction in CO2 emissions of just 0.3% per year can be perceived as a pioneer in the energy transition. But if Preem is the yardstick, it becomes all the more understandable why the global energy transition is so slow. The fact that the fossil fuel industry has so much influence was highlighted in June 2024 by UN General Secretary, Antònio Guterres, when he called on all countries in the world to take action to stop fossil fuel advertising, as well as on PR agencies to drop all cooperation with the fossil fuel industry. 

This call should also be heeded by winter sports. The irony is obvious: oil companies and car manufacturers are helping to melt the snow with their emissions - the snow that we all love and on which winter sports are completely dependent. And many people think this is wrong; the same Novus survey shows that as many as two-thirds of the Swedish population believe that fossil fuel advertising has no place in winter sports. 

And support is growing in grassroots movements and organisations, during the Vasalopps week, Protect Our Winter (POW) in Sweden, Norway and Finland issued a call to winter sports to break ties with fossil fuels and refuse fossil sponsorship and instead develop climate-friendly sponsorship strategies. The Vasalopps group within Rebellmammorna wrote an opinion piece in Dagens ETC calling on Vasaloppet to cancel the agreement with Preem, and they organized a winter parade during the race with the slogan: Vasaloppet must dump Preem. Greenpeace has started a petition with the same call. 

Sydsvenskan did a whole spread that also described both Rebellmammornas and New Weathers protests. And on Thursday Mora Tidning did a spread and an interview with former national skier Emil Johansson Kringstad who announced that he would run the relay race with the black cap - as a silent protest. And he was not alone, during Vasaloppsveckan this silent protest was carried out by several Vasalopp skiers - in Tjejvasan, Öppet Spår and Vasaloppet itself. 

The hat with the text Ban Fossil Ads spoke its clear language, and Emil summarized his thoughts in the finish line in Mora for SR P4: "I think it's unreasonable that Vasaloppet, which is so dependent on the snow, helps Preem to sportwash themselves, and in a way legitimize fossil fuels. But perhaps the worst thing is, I don't think Vasaloppet thinks about it, that they undermine the seriousness of the climate crisis - and I'm tired of that."

The next day, Friday, Feb. 28, 55 top skiers took a stand in an open letter to Vasaloppet that was published in Aftonbladet: "Time is running out if we are to save the snow and our beloved cross-country skiing. Therefore, Vasaloppet, and winter sports in general, need to become an active force in reducing emissions and, as part of this, stop advertising for oil companies and other fossil-heavy companies that contribute to melting the snow with their emissions." 

SVT Sport interviewed elite skier Björn Sandström, one of the initiators of the letter, where he comments on the Vasaloppet Preem collaboration: "It's absurd from that point of view: to have something as fantastic as the Vasaloppet and at the same time promote the fossil era". In the same article, elite skier Max Novak, who later came third in the Vasaloppet on Sunday, states that it was obvious for him to sign. 

Julia Angelsiöö, who finished 16th among the women in Sunday's Vasalopp, describes in Upsala Nya Tidning that it was also a given for her to sign, and that she thinks Vasaloppet needs to rethink: "It feels like a lot of greenwashing and it's one of the worst things, it's very ugly". 

So what was Johan Eriksson's response to the collective criticism? He repeated over and over again that Vasaloppet stands for change, and hoped that the critics "think one more time". We then took the opportunity to do a review of Preem's transition, which shows, among other things, that Preem has reduced its emissions by 2.6% in eight years - an average of 0.32% per year. 

Let's hope that the Vasaloppet organization thinks one more time. What if the 102nd Vasaloppet race in 2026 could be free of fossil fuel advertising? It would be important to reduce the emissions caused by fossil fuel advertising. And most importantly, because by refusing to be a tool for the fossil industry, Vasaloppet will then also stop contributing to undermining the climate issue - just as Emil Johansson Kringstad says when he is interviewed at the finish line with his black cap.

Just a week after, during the ski World Championships inTrondheim, Norway, 29 international top skiers made a statement after reaching an agreement with activists, Folk mot Fossilmakta, addressing the high carbon sponsorships in winter sport and targeted the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS), in particular Norwegian state-owned oil and gas giant Equinor. Julia Kern, an American cross-country skier who was part of the athlete commission that brokered the deal with the activists, said that her “purpose in skiing isn’t the results. It’s a lot more than that. And I think it is really helpful to be reminded: We’re doing this for more than just ourselves.”

Climate activism in winter sports is heating up.

This blog was originally published on the New Weather Sweden website.