At this year's press conference of Snowboard Germany, which took place as part of the athletes' clothing fitting and the awards for Athlete, Rookie, and Coach of the Year, our President Stefan Wagner also made a brief appearance. The focus was on the significant changes caused by climate change and the clear impacts that are already particularly evident in winter sports. For example, the men's and women's downhill events of the Alpine Ski World Cup in Zermatt had to be canceled due to a lack of snow.

Winter sports are therefore "perpetrator and victim at the same time," according to Wagner. "The crucial thing is to realize we have a serious problem together, and we are all responsible for it. And we are all responsible for finding the solution." This is exactly what Snowboard Germany is tackling. While the Asian Olympic Committee has awarded the Asian Winter Games to the desert of Saudi Arabia, the German association is taking responsibility. In the upcoming season, the team will wear the so-called "Warming Stripes" on their jackets as a commitment to sustainability. These stripes represent global warming over the last 150 years, progressively moving into the red zone. Since winter sports enthusiasts love the snow, the efforts of the association in this World Cup season go beyond the competitions to make a statement against climate change.

"We need to learn from each other and don't have to reinvent everything. We try to do this by sharing examples and engaging in dialogue," says Wagner, praising the initiatives such as the "Warming Stripes" jackets or the UN's "Race to Zero" that Snowboard Germany is adopting. "This is the only way forward so that we can be and remain confident."