Sustainable regional transition | Val d’Isère : Alps ski resort and winter sports

Eco-responsibility within the village

To carry out its mission, Lab Dev draws on the LUCIE 26000 standard, established in 2019 as the first social responsibility commitment standard dedicated to local authorities and aligned with the international ISO 26000 standard.

The local authority thus makes concrete commitments over a three-year period to improve the area’s appeal, public services and the services provided to residents by reducing economic, social and environmental risks.

Some of the local council’s initiatives include: the use of glass containers with plastic lids for meal deliveries carried out by the CCAS; an ongoing transport study aimed at limiting the number of vehicles in the village centre; and the primary school taking steps to obtain the Eco-School label.

Charter Wild Zero Waste Mountain in 2030

In 2024, the Town Council, Val d’Isère Tourisme, Val d’Isère Téléphériques and the ESF jointly signed the ‘Zero Litter in the Mountains by 2030’ Charter with Mountain Riders. This initiative aims to eliminate litter through the Adopt’1 Spot monitoring scheme, which enables the identification and classification of litter within a given area, tracks changes in pollution levels and facilitates the implementation of an action plan. Since the winter of 24–25, the Solaise Lounge has banned single-use plastic, provides a water fountain and reusable water bottles, and promotes local, locally sourced produce.

Find out more

ECOMOVE: Val d’Isère’s green collective

Since 2007, the Val d’Isère employees’ association, Vie Val d’Is, has brought all its environmental projects together under the ‘Ecomove’ collective. Run mainly by volunteers, it aims to propose solutions to local environmental issues, with the following objectives:

To raise awareness amongst holidaymakers, seasonal workers and local residents about environmental issues in the mountains.
To propose simple actions to the various stakeholders in the resort.
To bring together stakeholders in Val d’Isère around shared projects.

The collective’s initiatives

Environment Day: Every summer for over ten years, a litter-picking event has been organised in one section of the Val d’Isère ski area. In 2021, 185 volunteer litter pickers collected nearly 1 tonne of rubbish across various areas of the village. In 2020, there were 200 volunteers who collected over 1 tonne across the ski area. Among the volunteers, 44 per cent were holidaymakers, 37 per cent were local residents, 10 per cent were summer seasonal workers, 5 per cent had come to Val d’Isère specifically for this day, and 4 per cent were property owners. The average age of the volunteers is 35 (2019 figures).
Ecomove Day: The aim of this event is to raise funds to finance sustainable development projects set up during the summer season (e.g. community vegetable plots). You’ll find a large car boot sale organised by the association’s community shop, a stall making cleaning and hygiene products, a bike and ski repair workshop, a book exchange, a refreshment stand, and more.
Ecocups: No disposable cups have been used to serve mulled wine at the snow shows (torchlight descents) or on New Year’s Eve for over 10 years! The collective offers reusable cups free of charge to all event organisers. The aim of this initiative is to reduce the use of disposable cups and, consequently, to limit waste, whilst keeping the event venues clean.
Awareness campaigns: Throughout the year, Ecomove organises initiatives to raise public awareness, such as the free distribution of pocket ashtrays to seasonal workers and tourists in the resort, vegetable plots for village residents, and awareness-raising posters across the ski area and in the village (to reduce waste and the number of cigarette ends discarded on the slopes, minimise waste in the resort, and ensure that both holidaymakers and residents are aware that they are in a mountain environment, both on the ski slopes and in the resort)
Transport: Vie Val d’Is and Ecomove use cargo bikes as a means of transport to reduce their environmental footprint. The regional free car-sharing scheme, Mov’ICI, is offered alongside a dedicated local community: GoWiz, the Haute Tarentaise car-sharing scheme.

©
Environment Day - Activities
|
Yann Allègre

©
Environment Day Collective composting
|
Yann Allègre

The Sustainable Peaks Award Val d’Isère has won it for the second time!

The municipality of Val d’Isère is proud to have won the Cimes Durables Trophy for the second time at the Mountain Planet trade fair in Grenoble!

Organised by the National Association of Mayors of Mountain Resorts (ANMSM), this award aims to highlight mountain initiatives promoting sustainable development. Selected from amongst 15 candidates, the municipality has been recognised for implementing a large-scale project that highlights our village’s day-to-day commitment to sustainable transition. This involves the systematic incorporation of sustainable transition criteria into all contracts and agreements signed by the local authority.