Vail Resorts has committed to achieving a zero net operating footprint by 2030 across our entire enterprise, including our 37 owned and operated resorts. Commitment to Zero allows one mountain resort company to have a big impact on protecting our planet through its three pillars—zero net emissions, zero waste to landfill, and zero net operating impact on forests and habitat.
We also committed to transparency on our progress and challenges along the way, and as such we report results annually in our EpicPromise Progress Report.
Zero Net Emissions: Our emissions objective remains steadfast: achieving zero net emissions by 2030 by developing and investing in renewable energy and reducing energy use through efficiency measures at our resorts.
- As part of this pillar, we’re committed to reaching 100 percent renewable electricity – one of the most impactful ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change.
- While renewable electricity is our biggest opportunity to reduce emissions, we are also investing $25 million to reduce our energy use in our operations through innovative energy efficiency measures in the areas of buildings, snowmaking, and lifts.
Zero Waste to Landfill: Reducing landfilled waste decreases greenhouse gas emissions. Sending just 1 ton of waste to a landfill creates the same emissions as burning 397 pounds of coal[i]. We are also reducing the amount of material coming into our operations, as doing so on the front end reduces the emissions associated with manufacturing and shipping materials, and generates less waste.
Forests and Habitat: Our goal to have a zero net operating impact on forests and habitat is unique to a business that operates in the outdoors. To fulfill this commitment, we plant or restore an acre of forest for every acre displaced by our operations when disturbance is unavoidable. Healthy forests are widely recognized as an important component in emissions reduction through carbon sequestration and mitigation of climate change.