Vail Resorts is launching an ambitious effort to eliminate the environmental impact of its operations by 2030.
Rob Katz, the chief of the world’s largest mountain resort operator, announced at an employee meeting Tuesday that the company was aiming to eliminate emissions, deliver zero waste to landfills and offset its overall impact to forests and habitat in the next 13 years.
The company is calling the effort: “Epic Promise for a Zero Footprint.”
“Committing to green energy is not only good for the environment, but it’s good for business,” Katz said. “We talk about an environmental goal of needing to use less, but that’s an important business goal too. It means we are being smart about not only the resources we use inside the company, but also how we use any resources outside the company … particularly when the environment is both our product and our passion.”
With the acquisition of major destination ski resorts in Australia, British Columbia, California, Utah, Vermont and Colorado, Vail Resorts now is big enough to influence environmental change.
When it vies to use only renewable energy by 2030, it can create new renewable energy plants to feed its network of resorts. It can convince resort industry suppliers and vendors to reduce packaging and use compostable products as the company aims to divert all its waste from landfills by 2030.
“Our size and scale helps,” Katz said.
Katz also announced Vail Resorts was joining the RE100, a group of global companies committed to using 100 percent renewable energy, including Anheuser-Busch InBev, Coca Cola, Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Nestle, Nike and Starbucks. Vail Resorts is the first tourism business to join the group.
Breaking news: We’re delighted to welcome @VailResorts to #RE100, our first member from the tourism industry! @ClimateGroup @CDP @WMBtweets https://t.co/RLvTdHwI53
— RE100 (@theRE100) July 25, 2017
In 2008, Vail Resorts committed to a 10 percent reduction in energy use by 2012 and when the company hit that goal early, it aimed for a another 10 percent reduction in energy use by 2020. It’s almost at that goal and the new effort attempts to trim the company’s electric and natural gas consumption by another 15 percent by continuing investment in energy-saving projects like green building design and deploying high-efficiency snowmaking systems and snow groomers.
The company will purchase renewable energy to offset its 263,000 megawatt hours of electricity usage across all its resorts and will work with local utilities and governments near its resorts to push more renewable energy options into the local grids.
That’s smart business, Katz said, noting how renewables can eliminate the roller-coaster pricing of oil and natural gas energy.
In addition to growing its recycling and composting programs and urging vendors to source recyclable products, Vail Resorts is committing to “minimizing and eliminating the impact of any future resort development” by planting or restoring an acre of forest for every acre it displaces through operations.
Geraldine Link, the policy director for the National Ski Areas Association, which has tracked ski resorts’ environmental performance through its 17-year-old Sustainable Slopes program, said Vail Resorts’ zero-footprint promise exemplifies the resort industry’s commitment to sustainability.
“It is inspiring to see ski resorts voluntarily doing their part to cut emissions and waste streams and improve forest health,” she said.
Auden Schendler, the sustainability boss at the world’s greenest ski resort operator, Aspen Skiing Co., has been guiding his company’s efforts down the clean energy, zero-waste path for many years. A climate activist, Schendler has long urged his ski resort colleagues that sustainability must include political activism in addition to new lightbulbs, better recycling and green marketing.
Vail Resorts’ membership in the RE100 and Ceres Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy program, means the influential ski resort owner “will be using their voice and political power to drive change on climate,” Schendler said.
“You can sum up everything they just announced today as ‘Hey Trump, you need to take climate seriously and move on it,’ ” Schendler said. “This is major statement for our industry and it’s really important. They are approaching clean energy in a real way that will likely make a difference by looking at buying power from new energy projects. But the thing that is by far the most critical action they are taking, they are getting more political. We are going to work with them and support them … and they are going to help us too.”
Colorado’s U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet sent out a statement applauding Vail Resorts’ “impressive commitment to tackle climate change from multiple angles.” Al Gore tweeted congratulations to Vail Resorts “for doing the right thing for our planet.”
Congrats @VailResorts for doing the right thing for our planet by committing to a zero footprint https://t.co/viL7epSDm2 #epicpromise2030
— Al Gore (@algore) July 25, 2017
“Colorado businesses continue to lead the fight against climate change because they know how important clean energy and conservation efforts are to growing our economy and protecting the planet for our children,” Bennet said. “It is because of leadership like this throughout our state that Colorado is the epicenter of outdoor recreation.”
As the U.S. federal government backs off efforts to address climate change or promoting renewable energy, more companies like Vail Resorts and local governments — including mayors of major cities — are taking up the charge, with a promise to reduce energy use and limit impacts.
“We don’t think these things are that political. Once it’s clear there are not going to be national standards, we think it’s important to put our money where our mouth is,” Katz said. “This is not only doing the right thing, it’s doing the smart thing.”
