A Wool Blanket for the Glaciers – A Real Climate Intervention (ENG)

Glaciers around the world are melting at an accelerating pace. In Sweden, the story is no different. The blue ice in the glaciers is disappearing and not replenishing as it once did. This doesn’t just reshape landscapes – it affects sea levels, ecosystems, and communities.

Amid this crisis, a project called The Glacier Felt has taken shape - a massive blanket made of 100% Swedish wool, laid directly on the Björling Glacier at Kebnekaise every summer. Handmade and hand-stitched, the blanket is designed to slow the glacier's melting. Thanks to wool’s natural insulating properties, it keeps things cool when it’s hot and warm when it’s cold.

The idea came from Oskar Kihlborg, an experienced guide who, after witnessing the glaciers shrink year after year, decided to act. Teaming up with researchers, wool experts, and sustainability-focused partners like Wool Rebel, they created the Glacier Felt using raw wool – a material that would otherwise go to waste. The wool is washed, carded, and processed in Sweden without chemicals or additives.

In the summers of 2023 and 2024, the Glacier Felt protected 3.2 meters of ice from melting, showing what natural materials and creative thinking can achieve.

The project now has approval to continue for another three years. But the big question remains: how much glacier will be left by then? Will the wool blanket end up as a shell over what's gone? Or could this be the beginning of a new kind of climate tech – where wool blankets are used to protect vital infrastructure, farmland, or entire communities?

The Glacier Felt is part art installation, part scientific experiment, and part climate action. A reminder that sometimes the softest materials – like wool – can stand up to the harshest challenges of our time.