Back in June, when President Donald Trump announced that the United States would be withdrawing from the Paris Climate Change Agreement, a number of American ski resorts signed an open letter condemning the decision. With the title We Are Still In, the letter, from a broad swathe of US businesses and organisations, included a pledge to cut carbon emissions and find ways of safeguarding the natural environment.
One of the signatories was Vail Resorts, a giant of the skiing world – the company owns a dozen resorts across the USA, as well as Perisher in Australia and the massive Whistler Blackcomb ski area in Canada. It has now published details of how it plans to follow up that pledge.
The company's new sustainability initiative, Epic Promise for a Zero Footprint (using the “Epic” tagline it also gives its far-reaching lift passes) is on a suitably grand scale. A three-part plan, it involves a complete overhaul of the company’s operations, with the aim of eliminating its carbon emissions, waste production and environmental impact by 2030.
