Cold environments, including polar and alpine regions, are colonized by a wide diversity of micro-organisms able to thrive at low temperatures. There is evidence of a wide range of metabolic activities in alpine cold ecosystems. Like polar microorganisms, alpine microorganisms playa key ecological role in their natural habitats for nutrient cycling, litter degradation, and many other processes. A number of studies have demonstrated the capacity of alpine microorganisms to degrade efficiently a wide range of hydrocarbons, including phenol, phenol-related compounds and petroleum hydrocarbons, and the feasibility of low-temperature bioremediation of European alpine soils by stimulating the degradation capacity of indigenous microorganisms has also been shown.