The Ge.S.Di.Mont. Research Center of UNIMONT – pole of excellence of the University of Milan – is pleased to present its latest scientific contribution on the theme of the sustainability of winter tourism in the European Alps. The paper has been produced under the Interreg Alpine Space Smart Altitude Project (smartaltitude.eu) and has been recently published in the open access journal “Sustainability”.
Climate change and the call for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the efficient use of (renewable) energy, and more resilient winter tourism regions, forces ski resorts across the European Alps to look for “smart” approaches to transition towards a sustainable, low-carbon economy.
This is the starting point of the analysis contained in the latest scientific paper, produced in the framework of the Interreg Alpine Space Smart Altitude Project (smartaltitude.eu), that aims at enabling and accellerating the implementation of low-carbon policies in winter tourism regions, has just been published. The publication sees the involvement of Prof. Anna Giorgi, Director of the Ge.S.Di.Mont. Research Centre – UNIMONT, Università degli Studi di Milano, and of Dott. Stefano Sala – researcher of the Ge.S.Di.Mont. Research Centre with the collaboration with different Research Centres such as the Austrian Academy of the Sciences (ÖAW), the Swiss Center in Energy and Municipal Researches (CREM) and Bruno Kessler Foundation (FBK).
Drawing on the smart-villages concept and considering the different historical developments of Alpine resorts, the Smart Altitude Decision-Making Toolkit was developed using a combination of an energy audit tool, a WebGIS, and collaborative and innovative living labs installed in Les Orres (France), Madonna di Campiglio (Italy), Krvavec (Slovenia), and Verbier (Switzerland). This step-by-step Decision-Making Toolkit enables ski resorts to get feedback on their energy demand, an overview of the locally available sources of renewable energy, and insights regarding their potential for improving their energy efficiency by low-carbon interventions.
The Decision-Making Toolkit is suitable for knowledge transfer between stakeholders within living labs and moreover provides the flexibility for the adoption of tailor-made low-carbon strategies adapting to the unique assets and situatedness of ski resorts.