Researchers investigate: Can sheep save the glaciers?
In the Swiss Alps, a surprising solution using sheep's wool is being tested, which has been found to slow down ice melting and provide a new use for a local resource that is mostly discarded. The initial results are encouraging – but it is important to clarify that even the most creative solution is no substitute for fighting global warming by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which stem primarily from the use of fossil fuels.
Could one of the solutions for protecting glaciers come not from an advanced research laboratory, but from sheep grazing in the mountains? While Switzerland struggles to curb the shrinking of glaciers on its territory, a team of researchers conducted an unusual experiment in the Alps to check if one of the country's most undervalued natural resources might help: sheep's wool.
As part of efforts to delay glacier melting caused by climate change, Swiss scientists launched an experiment on the Tsanfleuron glacier, the "Keep It Wool" project, led by the environmental organization Summit Foundation and the University of Lausanne. In this experiment, sheets made of Swiss sheep's wool were spread on the glacier as a biodegradable biological substitute for polluting synthetic plastic sheets. Preliminary results show that the wool manages to protect the ice from solar radiation with efficiency similar to that of synthetic tarpaulin sheets spread every summer to reflect sun rays and reduce heat absorption.
The peak temperatures recorded this summer caused increased ice loss and a reshaping of the mountain landscape. This trend is one of the prominent factors in rockslides, such as the one that destroyed the village of Blatten on May 28, 2025, after the Birch glacier collapsed and struck the area with a massive avalanche of ice, mud, and rocks. Also, a fresher example is the deadly natural disaster in Nepal, where a flash flood and massive mudslides occurred on August 26, 2026, on the border with Tibet following the collapse of a glacier in the Himalayas.
Project manager Timothy Steiner said the team sought to test a biodegradable alternative and simultaneously find a use for Swiss wool – 40% to 70% of which is discarded every year. The idea occurred to four master's students who worked to test it in practice. In June, two prototypes of wool sheets, produced by the Swiss company Fisolan, were spread over an area of 200 square meters on the Tsanfleuron glacier.
"Now, we have an environmentally friendly solution that can not only be thought about, but also seen and touched," said student Elliot Gappio from the University of Lausanne.
However, members of the ambitious project emphasize that the wool sheets are not a magic solution for global warming. Only about 0.02% of the glacier area in Switzerland is covered with protective sheets, and scientists point out that reducing greenhouse gas emissions – which stem primarily from the use of fossil fuels – remains the only significant way in the long term to slow down glacier retreat.
