Industry News
Aspen One recently released a sustainability report with an unorthodox approach. Compared to other resort companies who all track things like carbon emissions, offsetting their carbon footprints and recycled material use, Aspen Skiing Co.’s parent company, Aspen One, boldly states, “We reject conventional sustainable business practices—carbon footprinting, operational tweaks instead of systemic solutions, fixating on net zero—as complicity.” The 13-page report outlines Aspen One’s new take on what businesses need to be doing to fight against climate change.
A large portion of the report points fingers at larger fossil fuel and energy giants as the root cause of climate change. It accuses the previously mentioned business practices as distractions from achieving systemic change. Aside from one graph near the end of the report tracking emissions from Aspen Snowmass, the majority of Aspen One’s report consists of calling out issues and highlighting its real-world solutions to them. In contrast to other resorts’ sustainability reports, it closer resembles a climate activism campaign.
Typically, ski resorts focus more on quantitative data and informing their readers on active green efforts to reach their goal of zero net emissions. For example, Vail’s 2022-23 report emissions tracking spans multiple pages including data on energy efficiency for resort operations, numbers on conserved landfill waste, and goals for wildlife habitat maintenance. The report is transparent in its data while also explaining the process they are making to reach its green goals. It recently hit the two-year mark on 100% renewable energy which it talks about in the progress report.
Aspen One is using its platform as a larger ski corporation to get people thinking about climate change activism differently. With the extended reach, the company has proposed a new way of thinking about climate change that is aimed to gain traction among its readers. However, Aspen One seems to heavily critique these “conventional sustainable business practices” despite most other resorts following the trend of reaching zero net emissions. Aspen One even challenges them saying, “So sure, cut your footprint. That’s called ‘business management.’ But then start your real climate work.”
It’s unclear whether Aspen One’s influence is enough to make the change it strives for. Many resorts see carbon offsets as progress and that success seems satisfying enough. Despite the report’s highlighted success, it may take time for Aspen One to see the systemic change it hopes for. At the very least, its sustainability report is enough to get people thinking about taking on an active role in the climate crisis.
