A third edition of the UIAA Climate Change Summit was celebrated under the slogan “UIAA Climate Action: commit, move, together, now!” and held in Malta as part of the 2024 UIAA General Assembly.
In his opening speech, UIAA President Peter Muir shared personal and global examples of how climate change has affected climbing activities – from melting or absence of ice and threats to hut infrastructures, to alternative and sometimes restricted access to favourite mountain areas. He urged members of the UIAA to join forces in climate action to mitigate and adapt to the effects we have all been witnessing.
The Summit, presented by the UIAA’s new sustainability partner Lenovo (further details to follow), focused on engagement on the recently developed “Climate Action Plan for UIAA Member Federations” and specifically revolved around the four defined pillars: commit, mitigate, adapt and educate/advocate.
Attending delegates had the opportunity to dive into two of the four pillars in more detail and exchange on key elements and challenges with fellow member federation representatives. Each of the breakout sessions was facilitated by members of the UIAA Climate Change Taskforce with Mary Sanseverino (Canada, ACC) leading the exchange on the commitment pillar, Jean Miczka (France, FFCAM) on adaptation, Josef Klenner (Germany, DAV) on mitigation and Paul Kwakkenbos (Netherlands, NKBV) leading the exchange on education/advocacy.
During the interactive sessions Climate Change Taskforce members picked up on many ideas, best practices and further needed support from the UIAA membership. The latter will help shape future output from the UIAA to assure we can all move along the climate action journey together. Members were specifically requesting more educational and communication tools, joint social media campaigns, Green House Gas (GHG) measurement and reporting tools, holistic approaches including biodiversity and nature preservation, and a wise use of in-person gatherings to foster interaction and exchange.
As a symbolic gesture and to close of this year’s Climate Change Summit, General Assembly attendees got to sign a banner to highlight their active commitment to climate change action.
The 2024 summit, presented by Lenovo, is one of the outputs under the lead of the UIAA Climate Change Taskforce. More on climate action, including guidance for UIAA member federations as well as individual climbers will be published on the dedicate UIAA webpage shortly.
Another fascinating sustainability topic covered during the GA was a PechaKucha presentation given by UIAA Mountain Protection Commission Vice President Mary Sanseverino. Her engaging and visual talk presented the UIAA’s commitment to the UN-declared International Year of Glaciers‘ Preservation, which will be celebrated in 2025, as well as showcasing a number of timelapses and photographs highlighting the impact of climate change on glaciers.
The International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation has been created to:
- Raise awareness about the role of glaciers in the climate system
- Address the challenges of climate change and water crisis
- Encourage governments, corporations, and individuals to take action
- Develop a cross-sectoral approach
- Identify practical steps to advance scientific research
The UIAA is committed to a number of initiatives around the event with further details to be provided ahead of 11 December, the annual International Mountain Day.
UIAA Resources
UIAA on climate change and action
UIAA internal climate action plan
UIAA Carbon Footprint Reports
UIAA Sustainability Charter
Case Studies
Climate action case study Germany, DAV
Climate action case study Canada, ACC
Climate action case study Switzerland, SAC
