2024
Action plan for sustainable mountain experiences
Chosen client: Skistar
Team: Marina Van Den Worm, Natwara Kamolrungwarakul, Nazanin Fayazmanesh
Challenge
As climate change increasingly threatens the future of winter tourism, the industry must find new ways to operate sustainably without compromising on guest experience. Skistar had already set ambitious sustainability targets, supported by a broad system of services and initiatives. Our challenge was to explore how these efforts could be strengthened and strategically aligned to support a more sustainable business model. We set out to develop a clear, actionable strategy, one that was not only visionary but also grounded in practicality, adaptable to change, and capable of engaging both internal teams and external stakeholders in meaningful transformation.
Goal
Backcasting towards a future of responsible, year-round alpine tourism
Approach
We started by aligning on a vision and redefined Skistar's current vision to encourage responsibility-taking, build trust, inspire and align with sustainability goals and targets. The new vision is: With a commitment to our future, we create memorable mountain experiences all year round. Using this as our north star, we applied the backcasting method to identify gaps between the current state and the future we aimed to achieve. We analysed how Skistar meets fundamental human needs and assessed their operations against the 8 Sustainability Principles and relevant UN Sustainable Development Goals. Through creative workshops, we explored bold ideas before narrowing them down into focused, achievable initiatives.
My role
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Strategic visioning
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Sustainability gap analysis
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Backcasting workshop development
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Concept development & action plan design
Insights
While Skistar has made notable strides in sustainability - using 100% renewable electricity, transitioning to electric machinery, and promoting inclusive, health-focused tourism - one of the most striking insights was the disconnect between their climate ambitions and their ownership of major carbon-intensive infrastructure. Skistar holds a 47% stake in the Scandinavian Mountains Airport AB, which plans to grow from 25,000 to 300,000 annual travellers within five years. Yet, this major source of emissions is absent from their sustainability reporting and not addressed in any current action plans.
This lack of accountability contrasted sharply with their visible environmental efforts elsewhere, such as PFC-free textiles and biodiversity campaigns. It highlighted a key vulnerability: the company’s sustainability narrative focused on local improvements while overlooking systemic impacts linked to their business expansion.
This insight significantly influenced the final recommendation to revise their vision. By integrating a clear commitment to the future, the updated vision challenges Skistar to align words with action, and to fully acknowledge their environmental footprint - including the emissions tied to their ownership decisions. The revised vision and roadmap aim to close this integrity gap, helping the company move toward a more transparent, holistic sustainability strategy.
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Project outcome
The final roadmap centers around three strategic areas: education and communication, climate neutrality, and circular business models. These include proposals for transparent reporting, training programmes, renewable energy adoption, low-emission transport, and service models based on rental, reuse, and local collaboration. Each action was evaluated for its long-term impact, adaptability, and return on investment - ensuring both social, ecological and economic resilience. The outcome positions Skistar to take meaningful, measurable steps toward becoming a climate-conscious tourism leader. It also strengthen their alignment with SDG 12 and SDG 13, creating shared value across their stakeholder network.
Image sources:
1. © 2022 by Johannes Andersson, 2. © 2012 - 2025 thefuture, 3. The Natural Step, "Approach: Accelerating Change,", 4. © 2023 by Greg Rosenke, 5. © 2025 by Emma Thorman, 6. © 2025 by Skistar, 7. © 2025 by Skistar, 8. © 2025 by Skistar