Why the Alps needs radical collaboration and hyper-localised sustainability

18 trains, 9 buses and over 100km of hiking across the Alps with a laptop, iPad and tent. But why?

For this year’s summer vacation, I decided to trek and meet several mountain communities in Austria, Switzerland, Italy and France who are trying to tackle climate change and address key sustainable development issues. Through a series of nine very localised Sustainable Alpine Tourism Initiative (SATI) community events showing the ‘Green Mountain Pioneers’ film I produced with Michael Shaw and leading climate mountain workshops, I have felt immensely thankful to connect with people who care deeply about these beautiful landscapes and discuss shared solutions to save them. We shared sweets. We shared stories. We shared knowledge. We shared new memories.?We shared ideas to turn into real action.

I have crossed more borders than I can count, climbed more mountain trails than I can remember, and carried more weight in my ridiculously heavy backpack full of tech kit these last few weeks than I want to ever re-carry. But, what is clear is that people share common challenges, yet also have really local sustainability needs.

We are all threatened by the same physical risks facing these mountain regions. We all share the joy of nature. We have a joint passion to collaborate and find ways to innovate and connect on these critical issues. But these challenges need to also be super localised. The power structures, ownership models, stakeholders and tourism profiles are really different, and understanding local context really matters. It takes getting out in the field, meeting people on the ground (including using A LOT of Google translate in my case), and listening to their perspectives to truly connect and create meaningful engagement.

Austrian adaptation adventure

So, after a very early Eurostar from London and night train from Amsterdam, the adventure began in Austria. I was there to collaborate with the Saalfelden Leogang Touristik GmbH Tourism team with Thomas Wurzinger and KLAR! Pinzgau teams. We hiked together with a mix of seventeen inspiring people crossing the world of government, farming, forests, hospitality and tourism, outdoors and climate research. Over the trails and huts we hiked upto the Birnbach glacier; the lowest in Central Europe. Once used to harvest ice for Munich breweries, the receding glacier is now a shadow of its former self. The increased impacts of climate change were a core part of the climate hike which was organised with the tourism board, and a unique way to connect people with climate issues in the local region.

We also saw the Birnbach barrier; a key part of adaptation infrastructure down the valley to manage flood risks and debris from increased storm surges. Nationally, Austria faced €1bn in economic losses from extreme climate events last year, and building these key resilient infrastructure assets is a critical part of Alpine climate adaptation in practice given increased flood events and extreme weather due to the climate crisis. We ended the day with showing the film, and leading a stakeholder workshop to address the mapping, challenges and potential solutions to sustainability issues facing in ski resorts.

It was fascinating to see how education, scientific collaboration, embracing local cultural and culinary heritage in the tourism offer, and empowering tourism stakeholders locally were viewed as essential. There were many aspects people were locally keen to connect on afterwards, which I am very excited about. ?

Ice blankets and energy transition in Switzerland

An eight hour train and bus combo then took me to Engelberg. I was there to meet Daire O'Connell, MBA and a great group of local sustainability leaders; the Engelberg Sustainability Group. After watching the Green Mountain Pioneers film, we discussed the local challenges facing the community. Energy really stood out as a key topic, especially solar and other transition technology potential. I see a clear case here for stakeholders to connect with other climate energy model regions in the Alps and learn from shared best practices.

Usually we associate the word blankets with keeping warm, but not these ones. Engelberg was also the place where I saw for the first time in my life a blanket on a glacier. Parts of Mont Titlis are covered in them, and some predict the glacier may be close to gone within the next twenty years. Not only should we grieve the beauty of these ice havens, but realising the dramatic knock on effect on water and communities matters, and catapults the urgency of why we need to tackle the climate crisis now.

Chamonix: climbing chats, heatwaves and mobility matters

After Switzerland I headed across the border to the Chamonix Mont Blanc Valley to screen the film at a climbing wall in Saint-Gervais, and also lead a climate hike in Vallorcine.

Chamonix receives 1.5 million tourists a year, but close to 90% of those visiting in summer are day visitors. As I got off the bus from Geneva to Chamonix Sud, the nearby car park for 180 cars was completely full. It is possible to take the train or bus there and the free local train card is a plus. However, I quickly realised that infrequent timetables and disconnected access down the valley are current challenges to greening mobility in the region. There is clearly also potential to collaborate on these issues across different mountain regions and learn from each other to create better green mobility roadmaps in Alpine resorts.

The heatwaves were stark, and I was constantly looking for shade to get some rest bite from the scorching temperatures. Scientists expect Chamonix will have more extremely hot days above 32 degrees in the next decade, expecting to rise to 20 extreme heat days by 2050. As a result, scientists expect upto a 40% reduction in the summer water balance by 2035 at all levels in the Mont Blanc Massif. Water remains a clear challenge here, and finding solutions to this across sectors and government is necessary now to ensure adaptation challenges are tackled here.

The flip side of this story though was the energy of the people I met to take climate action now. Across the local community in the Chamomix region I met industry innovators, mountain leaders, climbers, tourists and young people who are trying to create a more sustainable future for the region and acre deeply about these issues. We shared ideas, connections and memories, all energised to connect further and make sure something positive comes from these discussions. It will take all of these stakeholders to actually make a difference together, and we have to radically collaborate more to ensure that action happens, and that traditional siloes are addressed across groups to work together for a common good.

Mont Blanc, Miage glacier and starry nights under canvas in Italy

It was time to whip out the tent, and head across the border to Courmayeur, Italy. The incredible Hobo Campsite is at the back of Mont Blanc, and provided a stunning backdrop for a starlit film screening. I connected with locals, tourists from around the world doing the Tour du Mount Blanc (TMB), and kids who were excited by the mountains in the film. It was a pretty magical moment to watch the film there amongst the community under the stars and peaks.

We also did a climate hike workshop with Davide Bertolo and Pietro Disopra from the Aosta region. My friends Ash and Teresa joined from the UK, and together we trekked with the scientists to the Lago di Miage to learnt about the glacier hazard risks arising from the melting of Italy’s third largest glacier at the base of Mont Blanc. In 2004 a Glacier Lake Outbust Flood (GLOF) bought 300,000m3 of water and debris down the valley and the area remains vulnerable to further events from climate change as we heard during the hike. Data is critical, and the teams are at the forefront of using geospatial data to address physical risk mapping here. This powerful research perspective provided a new lens on this place, and there is clearly potential to connect this research to stakeholders who need to understand such physical risks, including related to water availability and new innovations the teams are exploring.

Connecting climate engagement and communication to tourism here could also be an opportunity to engage more stakeholders in these issues including alpinists, mountain guides and tourism communities who know that nature is interconnected to both the outdoor experience and the sense of place.

After Courmayeur we lugged our massive backpacks over 2900m high pass to cross the Col De la Seigne into France. Just before crossing the border on foot, we saw the last mountain hut with the Fondazione Montagna sicura . This mountain climate info centre demonstrates this very opportunity to connect tourists to the issue. As trekkers and avid TMBer’s cross the border, they can head into the centre to learn about climate change, biodiversity and the local environmental initiatives taking place in the area. This summer over 10,000 visitors stepped through its doors according to the latest data from the organisation. This is exactly the kind of communication that is needed in mountain regions, and we have to harness the engagement opportunity to connect people with these issues and spark conversations, ideas and connections on these topics.

Vanoise: Franglais, marmots and toddler mountain triumphs

After a pretty epic night camping over the French border above 1700m, we started a long and steep descent into the Bourg Saint Maurice valley and onwards by train and bus to the final destination for the tour; Pralognan Vanoise. There we met with the Parc de la Vanoise national park, scientists, other tourists, and local community leaders and we trekked together up to the Refuge Col de la Vanoise. It was fascinating to hear about the biodiversity of the area, home to France’s first ever national park which was created over 60 years ago. After a winding 1200m ascent, once at the refuge we were surrounded by marmots, ibex, and other incredible wildlife. But once again the fragility of this landscape was clear, and seeing the glacier from old refuge photos sadly demonstrated this point.

Around a hearty meal and surrounded by 40 or more French locals, I had to Franglais my way through dinner. After overcoming much embarrassment at my lack of French verb vocabulary, it was amazing to actually connect with people, learn about their perspectives, and hear their stories about being outside in nature. It was also great that Gavin Fernie-Jones bought his super-adventurous little three year old for his inaugural refuge stay. To see the joy of a toddler experiencing nature, telling us about the champignons and marmots, and seeing him learning about glaciers and just playing in the mountains was a really wonderful experience to share with the group!

The young people at the refuge watching the film were also energised, and having a little five year old come up to me after the film and say “le film c’est tres cool” and teenagers say that the Re-Action Collective Collective One Tree Bozel space shown the film is cool and needs to be shared more like this was exactly one of the reasons I do this – inspiring the next generation to feel a sense of agency, hope and joy on climate action is critical now more than ever before.

We also did a mountain sustainability purpose workshop next to the glacier, and I was reminded of the power to connect across people, as I heard from the group about their raison d'etre to make a difference, and how we can collaborate to work on these issues together across regions.

I will admit that it has not been an easy road to get here though, and it has been really tough at times. Explaining to people why I do this in my spare time seems baffling to some. It sometimes takes tonnes of energy and tenacity to convince people to join or host a free screening, come on a hike and connect with me when I am literally in their backyard. But this summer’s tour has shown me that hyper-localising sustainability engagement matters in mountain regions, and I am so thankful to the people who I’ve met these last few weeks on tour for sharing this experience together across the Alps: Thomas Wurzinger Stephan Obenaus Nicola Littmann Anselm E. Raphael Chrysochoidis Francesca Barco Hamed Kiashemshaki Robert Steiger Rebecca Skrzypek Christopher Skrzypek Joanna Janczewska Lukas Schabus Jip van der Linden Dipl.-Ing. Michaela Leitgeb Charlotte Mulligan Ryan mulligan Daire O'Connell, MBA Ben Levy-Mcnaughton Robbie Udberg Alexandre Nayme Ash Goddard ,Tereza, Davide Bertolo Pietro, Kelly Coombes Gavin Fernie-Jones Heather Davies Emmanuel Salim ??

So, as I head back to London ready for a busy September in sustainable finance in the City and an upcoming screening trip and workshop weekend in Slovenia, I am going back home with sheer gratitude for these experiences of human connectivity. I am feeling the urgency to continue to do more on both mitigation and adaptation to prorect these places both in my work at BNP Paribas CIB and through my passion project of Sustainable Alpine Tourism Initiative (SATI) . These weeks have created a lot of ideas we need to collectively turn into action across stakeholders, and I am so thankful for sharing this experience with everyone I met!