Industry News
Environmental and Social Responsibility Actions Demonstrate Resort’s Leadership Across Outdoor Industry
Fast Company has selected Taos Ski Valley to its prestigious annual list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2023, based on its unparalleled environmental and social responsibility work. In 2022 Taos Ski Valley become a certified CarbonNeutral® company by Climate Impact Partners, which, coupled with its status as the world’s first and only certified B Corporation® ski resort, confirms Taos Ski Valley as the leader in the outdoor industry for using business as a force for good.
Taos Ski Valley has spent years and more than $100M in investments to not just advocate for change in the outdoor industry, but to actually make it. Two key initiatives are part of that effort: achieving net zero carbon emissions, and supporting its local community and staff.
“For many years we’ve said we will grow better, not bigger and, while we’re fiercely independent in every way, we are heartened to see many of the industry’s larger corporations starting to follow our lead. Winning this Fast Company award is gratifying and I’m proud of our team who shows up every day with our mission in mind, and our visitors who vote with their wallets for a business that is doing right in the world. We love skiing, riding, mountain biking, and experiencing the respite of the outdoors, and we offer an incredible experience for our guests. But our mission is to do the right thing for the people, planet, and place we call home.”
– David Norden, CEO of Taos Ski Valley
To achieve net zero carbon emissions, Taos Ski Valley has taken dramatic steps such as using renewable daytime solar power throughout the resort, heating and cooling its LEED-certified The Blake hotel with geothermal energy, dramatically reducing independent auto use, retrofitting older buildings for energy efficiency, and electrifying its fleet of vehicles, including snowmobiles. Additionally, Taos Ski Valley will be the first ski resort in North America to deploy an all-electric snowcat.
This year, the resort will offset 100% of the carbon impact of the World Pro Ski Tour World Championship race taking place at Taos, a first for the industry. Additionally, Taos is offsetting 100% of the carbon associated with the competitive travel of its sponsored athlete, Olympian River Radamus. No other ski resort in North America has made commitments of this level, and achieved the same third-party certifications and awards as Taos, further demonstrating its leadership.
To support its local community, Taos offers its staff a true living wage as guided by MIT’s annual Living Wage calculation. The resort has supported and launched a variety of new low and no-cost programs to improve accessibility to outdoor recreation for children and local residents, and to groups that have been historically excluded in the outdoor industry. Taos Ski Valley has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to local nonprofits and foundations. Additionally, Taos has conducted extensive forestry work in collaboration with the Carson National Forest and Taos Valley Watershed Coalition to better protect the Village of Taos Ski Valley and the Rio Hondo watershed, and to improve forest health to better withstand wildland fire threats. It is also a charter signatory of The Nature Conservancy’s Rio Grande Water Fund whose collaborative goal is to restore 600,000 acres of critical forests and headwaters of the Rio Grande.
Fast Company‘s editors and writers sought out the companies making the biggest strides around the globe, as well as judging nominations received through their application process.
The World’s Most Innovative Companies is Fast Company‘s signature franchise and one of its most highly anticipated editorial efforts of the year. It provides a firsthand look at the inspiring and innovative efforts of companies across all sectors of the economy.
“What a strange and thrilling year it has been to honor this year’s Most Innovative Companies. This year’s list compiles some of the most cutting-edge groundbreakers who are changing our world every single day, from legacy organizations like McDonald’s to upstarts like MrBeast and institutions such as NASA. Everyone on this list does something completely, uniquely different, yet, they all have one thing in common: innovation.”
– Fast Company editor-in-chief Brendan Vaughan
Fast Company will host its third annual Most Innovative Companies Summit on April 19 and 20. The virtual summit celebrates the Most Innovative Companies in business, and provides an inside look at cutting-edge business trends and what it takes to innovate in 2023. Fast Company‘s Most Innovative Companies issue (March/April 2023) is available online here, as well as in-app form via iTunes, and on newsstands beginning March 14. The hashtag is #FCMostInnovative.
As a taos local, this is a complete joke. Laughable. The Texans who bought taos run the place like a circus and a personal party playground.