• by Les Luchter , February 3, 2022

Fat Tire, which has been on a mission to fight climate change since becoming the first carbon-neutral-certified beer in the U.S. two years ago, has extended that battle, challenging the climate commitments of Winter Olympics corporate sponsors and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The Winter games kick off Friday in Beijing, China, with those very sponsors being uncharacteristically quiet in support of their multi-million-dollar investments.

Fat Tire's “Point of Snow Return” campaign, supported by a :30 YouTube video, centers on an online petition urging the IOC to require that future official sponsors have strong 2030 climate action plans.  Fat Tire will use “multiple outlets” to get out the word, a spokesperson for New Belgium Brewing, the beer’s owner, told Marketing Daily.

“We need action, not ad campaigns,” the video declares. “Tell the IOC to act, before we reach the point of snow return.”

Fat Tire has also launched a “Point of Snow Return” limited-edition beer, brewed with spruce tips -- so that “its fading notes of winter flavor are a reminder of the threat of climate change and a call to keep the season cold.” Proceeds from the beer, sold online at drinkfattire.com and at Fat Tire’s “liquid centers” in Fort Collins, Colorado, and Asheville, North Carolina, will go to Protect Our Winters, a nonprofit that works with the snow sports community to fight climate change.

But why target the Olympics for a climate change message? Fat Tire pointed to a recently released University of Waterloo study which found that “if global emissions of greenhouse gases are not dramatically reduced, only eight of the 21 cities that have previously hosted the Winter Olympics will be cold enough to reliably host the Games by the end of this century.”

"The IOC has shown leadership in adopting its own climate action plan, and now it's time to use their influence to push big companies to do the same,"New Belgium CEO Steve Fechheimer said. "Companies that want to show love for winter sports should be invested in protecting their future, too.”

This year’s Winter Olympics global sponsors include Airbnb, Alibaba, Allianz, Atos, Bridgestone, Coca-Cola, Intel, Omega, Panasonic, Procter & Gamble, Samsung, Toyota and Visa.

Asked to name specific sponsors who don’t have 2030 climate action plans, the New Belgium spokesperson replied that “shaming individual companies is less important than creating a rule that will govern all sponsors moving forward.”

“We’re asking the IOC to create standards that will raise all boats," she said, pointing to recent news that Sports Illustrated won’t sell ads in its swimsuit Issue to companies not committed to equity and inclusion. “Why not have a climate rule as well?...In addition, if the IOC created a climate action requirement for sponsorship, other powerful organizations with sway over major advertisers might do the same for their national or global events.

Winter Olympics sponsors this year have already been under unprecedented pressure due to the games’ location in Beijing. Facing protests from human rights activists, they’ve nonetheless decided to proceed with their sponsorships, as The New York Times reported last week.

Yet their hype has been much quieter than usual. As of Wednesday, for example, Marketing Daily writers had received no outreach from the top 13 global Olympics sponsors, who the Times reported “have contracts with the International Olympic Committee that add up to more than $1 billion.”

Following this month’s games, the next Winter Olympics are scheduled for Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, in February, 2026.

Fat’s Tire’s previous climate change initiatives  included a foul-tasting limited-edition beer, launched in 2021. “Torched Earth,” with such ingredients as smoke-tainted water, dandelions and drought-resistant grains, was designed to show what beer might be like once climate change wipes out ingredients like hops and malt. The company also started a “Last Call for Climate” campaign, calling on consumers to tweet for Fortune 500 companies to adopt 2030 climate action plans.<