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ATOMIC AUSTRIA

DATA DRIVEN SUSTAINABILITY IN THE SKI INDUSTRY

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ATOMIC AUSTRIA

I PROFILE

Founded in 1955, Atomic Austria manufactures high-quality winter sports equipment. It is the largest ski manufacturer in the world with 1,000 in-house employees at its headquarters in the Pongau valley, near Salzburg. The Atomic workforce is united by shared values of innovation, authenticity and, most recently, data driven sustainability. Ronald Schwarzenbrunner, Sustainability Manager, told Hannah Barnett more about what this means.

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ATOMIC AUSTRIA

I PROFILE

tomic is the sort of company that

international standard for an environ-

brings a rigorous technical approach

mental management system ISO14001,

to everything it does. This means it is

firmly establishing the facility as the

driven by data and guided by science.

global benchmark in lower-impact ski

As its sustainability statement says: “We

production. Lessons learned in Altenmarkt

don’t take leaps of faith. We don’t make

are set to be applied at the company’s

assumptions. And we never claim anything

facilities in Bulgaria and Romania too.

we can’t justify.”

Atomic is doing all it can to overcome the inherent tension between mass production

An Atomic overview

and sustainability. The company has

With distribution across 49 countries, the

already undertaken a number of practical

company produces over 400,000 pairs

measures to improve its ski manufacturing

of skis annually, along with 505,000 pairs

process, which requires a lot of heat and

of alpine boots and 350,000 helmets. The

pressure and therefore consumes

skis are manufactured mere metres from

a high amount of energy. (though less per

where they are designed, at the company’s

ski than smaller scale production due to

cutting-edge Altenmarkt facility.

higher efficiency).

As well as providing a perfect playground

Using local wood chip instead of oil to

in which to test prototypes, the factory

heat the Altenmarkt factory has resulted

gives the company the ability to experiment.

in a 95% carbon footprint reduction on

From energy efficiency to the materials

heating, with over 2,176 tonnes of CO2 kept

used, every step of the manufacturing

out of the atmosphere a year. Atomic also

process is controlled in-house, meaning

changed to sourcing its electricity from

Atomic can reduce emissions across

renewable energy suppliers back in 2014.

all product categories. Altenmarkt has been fully audited

Three-pillar strategy

using the Higg Facility Environmental

The Atomic sustainability policy goes much

Module and work is underway on a

further than heating, however. Alongside

further introduction and audit using the

a third-party consultancy firm, the company

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has devised a three-pillar strategy to

so the main challenge is adapting its

mitigate the impact of climate change

design without skimping on quality, or

and herald substantial change.

performance, for the sake of sustainability.

The first pillar looks at the Atomic value

“At the beginning, we thought it might

chain. This involves conducting a green-

be a compromise,” Mr Schwarzenbrunner

house gas inventory and setting

said, “but we found that sometimes it’s

science-based targets to reduce emissions.

the opposite. Because of the lifecycle

“It’s about reducing the impact from our

assessment, our developers were able

factories,” said Sustainability Manager Ronald Schwarzenbrunner, “but also, our

to try something completely new.” The company found that performance

suppliers, our sourcing partners and

improved on its first low impact design

everything else in our supply chain. We

of a ski. After calculating a carbon footprint

try to be as science-based as possible,

baseline, the developers reduced the

using the best or most credible standard

CO2 impact from the material by 30%, and

SBTi. We base all our greenhouse gas

found the skis were lighter and rode better

calculations for the whole value chain

than before.

on that standard and guidance.” The second pillar, innovation for

“The LCA also gives the product a new performance indicator,” Mr Schwarzenbrunner

sustainable performance, is based on

explained. “Because our developers are

the products themselves, and incorpo-

dedicated to building everything based on

rating lower impact into their design.

figures, so bending strength or milliseconds

“We do a lifecycle assessment

in the race will count. And if there is, for

(LCA) on everything we produce,” Mr

example, a CO2 equivalent, they immedi-

Schwarzenbrunner explained. “So, if we are

ately understand how to quantify sustain-

thinking of changing a process or material,

ability. But if we don’t have the baseline, then

we always calculate the impact ourselves.

we don’t know how to improve and quantify

And we built a tool for developers to use too.”

that improvement.”

The Atomic brand is built on providing

The third pillar is collaboration for mass

a high performing product for athletes,

movement. Atomic is just one enterprise:

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ATOMIC AUSTRIA

I PROFILE

it cannot make much of difference alone,

said. “And that is also why I believe

so, the company is trying to usher in sub-

there were so many participants;

stantial change by leveraging the voices

because everybody’s so interested

and influence of the athletes it works with,

in exactly that.”

as well as other players in the sector. Atomic hosted the first climate industry

Small changes, big picture

event in Salzburg in September 2023 along-

With by far the largest sustainability

side competitors, all major ski brands, sup-

department in the ski industry, Atomic

pliers and retailers – all with the goal of

is undoubtedly a driver in its sector. The

collaborating towards more climate action.

company has a largely vertical supply

This year Atomic also announced

chain, meaning it can exert a certain

a global partnership with Protect Our

amount of control over the sustainability

Winters (POW) which works to raise aware-

of its own production.

ness about the impact of climate change

Atomic does, however, rely on external

on winter sports and advocates for polit-

suppliers for materials, all of whom are

ical action. Snow loss is obviously a big

subject to an auditing process to acquire

concern for the industry and the collabora-

the necessary data to create a baseline.

tion will allow Atomic and POW to amplify

The company then works in close

their respective voices in the fight against

collaboration with suppliers and partners

climate change.

to determine the most effective ways to

“That is why we did the climate summit because warmer winters are not just

reduce impact and lower CO2 emissions. Unlike many in the sector, Atomic is

affecting us, they are affecting the whole

extremely well-equipped to collect

skiing industry,” Mr Schwarzenbrunner

and analyse data. It even has a full-time

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staff member whose job it is to calculate

I built my own skis in my basement,

lifecycle assessments.

because I love skiing and engineering.

“That is a resource most of our suppliers

What really excites me about the

just don’t have,” Mr Schwarzenbrunner

job itself is seeing the improvements

said. “But they are happy to get the data

as they happen. Everybody in our com-

on the impact of the products they are

pany seems willing to change some-

selling to us. It means we can also give

thing. It’s exciting to think about what

them suggestions about reducing the use

we can do.”

of a product, or switching a technology, or using a renewable energy source and things like that. We do not just take the data and use it for ourselves, we really want to collaborate.” There is no doubt the company is making a significant shift in the industry. And for Mr Schwarzenbrunner, these are changes he takes seriously. “This is my dream job,” he concluded. “It combines my two passions: sustainability and skiing. Before I worked here,

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