quality of information distributed, within a context where the time scales involved do not always allow for feedback in terms of experience or the reputations of producers of poor-quality information. Box n°2 gives an example of the strategic role of information for making decisions in the case of private stakeholders.

# **Box n°2: The impact of information on competitive conditions: the case of ski resort operators**

The OECD has studied the link between global warming and winter sports (Agrawala, 2007), revealing the importance of the role of information on market operation and competitive conditions between stakeholders.

There are currently 660 ski resorts in the Alps, with revenues that make it the number one economic activity in the region. However, this environment is particularly sensitive to global warming: the Alps are one of the areas of Europe where the temperature is increasing the most rapidly. Historical series show that the temperature increase in this region was more than 50% greater on the average than the global warming average worldwide over the past 40 years. To adapt to global warming, ski resort operators are therefore confronted with a double uncertainty: (i) the overall global scenario, and (ii) its transposition to local conditions with a very high probability of a global scenario with a rise of 2°C, which translates into a rise of over 3°C above the ski slopes.

A recurrent snow shortage has caused problems in 60 of the resorts. If the temperature rises by an average of 2°C over the next decades, the OECD estimates that some 100 additional resorts will suffer from a lack of snow. If it rises by 4°C, only 200 resorts will be able to operate – those located above 2,000 meters.

These resorts spontaneously turn to the production of artificial snow. This type of spontaneous adaptation increases the amount of energy used, upping operating costs and emitting greenhouse gases. It requires water – over 10 million m<sup>3</sup> each winter in France – representing a considerable cost. And then there is the prime ingredient for the snow cannons to work: cold. When the thermometer refuses to go any lower, the snow cannons remain idle and the skiers have to go to slopes at higher altitudes or revert to hiking. The return on investments made in the name of adaptation is therefore the inverse function of the seriousness of the impact that it is supposed to correct.

From an economic point of view, the impact of global warming on operating conditions in ski resorts in the Alps can be analyzed as a loss for the sector in general. In the beginning, it takes on the form of an increase in production costs. It then represents a loss in capital with the likely closing of low and medium-altitude resorts. However, it is important to note that this loss modifies the competition, creating winners and losers.

Overall sector losses will be the result of multiple adjustments between certain stakeholders who will take advantage of the situation and others who will be weakened and sometimes doomed to disappear. Competition rules will be modified: the future of operators specialized in medium-altitude resorts that cannot re-orient their activities will be compromised; operators specialized in higher altitude resorts will, in contrast, benefit from the shift in clientele and costrelated advantages. If we study the structure of the sector, we can see that a limited number of operators intervene in several areas and specialize in high-altitude resorts, especially the largest ones like the Compagnie des Alpes, traded on the Paris stock exchange, that recently refocused its investment strategies on high-altitude ski resorts because of global warming. Low and medium-altitude ski resort operators are currently being abandoned by the major operators.

Past information dissymmetries have made it possible for some of the better-informed stakeholders in the sector to make high-altitude investments that will allow them to benefit from a comparative advantage over other operators in the sector for several decades. In light of the consequences for the entire region, given that a large part of the population lives off of winter 13/39