By Bethany Beers

The 2023-2024 ski season marks the 13th year of the Climate Challenge for members of the National Ski Area Association (NSAA). The Climate Challenge is a voluntary program designed to recognize ski areas committed to reducing their climate impacts. Challengers do this by inventorying and reporting on their greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint, setting goals for GHG emissions reduction, implementing at least one on-site GHG emissions reduction project per year, and engaging in climate change advocacy efforts. Challengers that complete all requirements of the Climate Challenge automatically earn Climate Action and Climate Advocacy badges for the NSAA Sustainable Slopes Program.

However, this type of voluntary program isn’t exclusive to the ski industry. Similar programs have proven successful across a variety of different industries and are a powerful tool in creating sizable change and collaboration.

Beyond the Ski Industry

Some of the most collaborative industries are the ones that are making the biggest strides in impacting their carbon emissions. Take the beverage industry for example: the Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable (BIER) was born out of a desire to advance global sustainability within the beverage sector. It brings together breweries, soda companies, wineries, spirits makers, and more from around the world to collaborate and share best practices and to work together to move the industry and its collective supply chain forward. Every year BIER produces an annual benchmarking report that updates the progress made in energy, water and emissions savings, and shares case studies highlighting best practices from around the world.

The healthcare industry is another great example of voluntary compliance programs both driving change and enabling industry collaboration. Practice GreenHealth is a voluntary sustainability program that encourages a similar five step methodology for tracking and reporting but goes deeper into all areas of the business. The Joint Commission, that monitors healthcare operations across the country, launched its Sustainable Healthcare Certification in 2023, aimed at reducing environmental impact, saving cost, improving health outcomes, enhancing reputation and community impact, improving regulatory compliance and mitigating risk. While the program is early in its days, it is encouraging to see the number of organizations who are signing up to participate.

Goals of the Climate ChallengeElements of the NSAA Climate Challenge

In addition to the five Climate Challenge program requirements described above, Challengers are encouraged to undertake activities to reduce emissions in indirect ways that may not be reflected in their emissions inventories but may still have a significant impact on global emissions and climate resilience. These activities are recognized and supported by the Climate Challenge. Examples of these indirect activities are:

  1. Pursuing and aligning with other NSAA Sustainable Slopes Badges.
  2. Improving Climate Resilience by conducting a climate vulnerability assessment for the ski area to identify the impacts of climate change.

Making Change Possible

This year, 36 ski areas participated in the Challenge, a record number of participants. As an industry already feeling the deep impacts of climate change, ski areas know that time is running out to make changes. Over the 13 years of the challenge, over 48,000 tons of MTCO2e have been reduced. As Brendle Group has worked with the NSAA and Challengers, it’s clear that change is possible when there is intention and a thoughtful process in place. Here are five key takeaways we’ve learned:

  1. You can’t mitigate if you don’t measure. When trying to figure out how to reduce your climate impact, you first must know where the impact is coming from. A baseline inventory is the critical first step to understanding where, what and how you can make an impact. Everyone’s inventory is unique, and is impacted by operations, utility services, size and more.
  2. Data, data, and more data. Whether it’s creating your first inventory or trying to track your progress, making sure you know what data you need and where to get it is critical. The first time a ski area completes their inventory is always an eye-opening experience – this is not one person or department’s task; it’s a collective effort and data are needed from all areas of the business. Putting good data collection and management practices in place (or even automating it!) will make it easier year after year to track progress.
  3. Language is important. Clear communications and the right words can be critical to the success of your climate action program. “Climate change” doesn’t resonate with everyone, because it can be a huge and scary concept. Work with your team to identify the language that resonates and break big concepts into smaller elements – it could be messaging around operational efficiency, cost savings, resilience, reducing impact, saving energy and saving water that make it easier to reach your intended audience.
  4. Actions require investments, and asking for money is hard. Businesses need to be profitable, and making wise investments is important to ensuring longevity. When it comes to climate action projects, funding is often the biggest hurdle. There are more opportunities for outside funding resources such as grants, rebates, tax incentives, etc. than ever before and innovation and creativity are being rewarded. Find what resonates with your organization and maximize the co-benefits.
  5. Ask for help. We’re all in this together, and we can’t do it alone. Reach out to industry peers and ask them what worked and what didn’t for them. Learning from each other and collaborating only makes us stronger and spreads the word faster when new and innovative ideas make a big impact. By learning from each other’s mistakes, we can make change happen faster.

Making Collective Impact

The Climate Challenge has taught us that ski areas mostly face the same challenges when trying to reduce their impact, and they often have the same big opportunities for improvement. Some of the uses or activities in the ski area that have the highest emissions, and their mitigation options are:

Ski Industry Mitigation Options

Sharing the lessons learned collectively for these highest emissions categories will help move the entire ski industry forward, just as the collective impact and collaboration through organizations like BIER and Practice Greenhealth are moving the beverage and healthcare industries forward.

Regardless of your industry, the five key takeaways listed above are a great place to start if you’re new to climate action planning. If you’re stuck, reach out to Brendle Group for support. We’ve been helping our clients advance equitable climate solutions for nearly 30 years and have the expertise in house to help you advance yours.

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About the AuthorBethany headshot – Bethany brings over 20 years of experience in management, team development, and engineering consulting. As the Director of Engineering, she uses innovation and critical thinking to deliver solutions that are technically feasible, financially viable, and implementation ready. Bethany has expertise in sustainable design and energy efficiency consulting, decarbonization planning, building system commissioning, and capital project management.

Prior to joining Brendle Group, Bethany worked in both consulting and the private sector. She led large capital projects in the role of owner for New Belgium Brewing helping the organization live its values in green building and climate action while growing its Fort Collins campus and expanding to Asheville, NC. She’s also an experienced project manager serving clients with aggressive net zero carbon goals. She brings a robust and varied skillset in project management and capital planning for project implementation, complemented by a deep understanding of complex building systems, energy efficiency, and the unique challenges associated with building decarbonization.