Aspen Skiing Co. joined a lawsuit to stop global warming. Vail Resorts Inc. made a record-setting wind-energy buy. Tiny Wolf Creek Ski Area committed itself to renewable energy.
Colorado ski resorts are plunging into environmental activism with abandon this summer.
From a marketing perspective, it’s a way to appeal to the demographic that fills their slopes. Beyond that, observers say, resorts are genuinely concerned about environmental threats to their business.
A recent Aspen Skiing survey found that 30 percent of its guests view environmental stewardship as being of “high importance,” up from 10 percent five years ago. The private company plans to tout its fight against global warming in a fall advertising campaign.
“I think most skiers are not aware of what we’re doing, and we’re trying to change that,” said Aspen Skiing’s director of environmental affairs, Aulden Schendler.
In March, the ski company was Colorado’s first to purchase enough wind power to offset all its electricity use. Last week, it joined in a U.S. Supreme Court case against the Environmental Protection Agency’s stance against regulating greenhouse-gas emissions.
In August, Broomfield-based Vail Resorts also committed to renewable energy, becoming the nation’s second-largest corporate purchaser of wind-energy certificates, behind Whole Foods. And last week the company partnered with the National Forest Foundation to raise $600,000 this winter for conservation projects.
Vail Resorts chief executive Rob Katz said the company has made a conscious decision to be more vocal about its environmental efforts.
“We’ve seen it grow in importance to the market, so we’re being more public about what we’re doing,” he said. “It’s the right thing to do, and hopefully it grows our business.”
Vail Resorts stock closed at $38.12 Friday, up 50 cents.
Wall Street is also beginning to value corporate environmental stewardship, according to Nancy Skinner. She is the U.S. director for The Climate Group, an international nonprofit group that promotes business leadership on global warming. Its members include British Petroleum, HSBC Holdings, Starbucks, Timberland and Johnson & Johnson.
“There is now a movement by institutional investors to look at where a company falls in terms of climate protection,” she said.
Financial powerhouses Goldman Sachs Group and JPMorgan Chase have joined in, adopting policies on investing in environmentally sensitive industries.
“We’re an investment bank. We’re in business to make money,” said Christopher Williams, spokesman for Goldman Sachs, which has pledged to invest $1 billion in alternative-energy ventures. “We think this is good for business, as well as the right thing to do.”
Roughly 40 of the 325 U.S. ski resorts are now purchasing green energy, according to the National Ski Areas Association. Smaller Colorado players such as Wolf Creek and Crested Butte Mountain Resort are among them.
In 2000, the Lakewood-based ski-area association launched the “Sustainable Slopes” program to encourage resorts to incorporate more environmentally friendly operations and lessen the negative impacts of global warming.
“There has definitely been a trend towards being more sensitive to environmental issues in the last few years,” said president Michael Berry. “And it’s not just Vail and Aspen. It’s across the board.”
Peter de Leon, the University of Colorado at Denver professor who has authored two studies critical of the industry’s “green” practices, said competition between Vail and Aspen for high-end skiers may also play a part in the green programs.
“I think there is a sense of one-upmanship there,” he said. “It used to be who had the higher lift-ticket price. Now they’re saying, ‘We’re greener than the other guy.’ I think they’re looking for ways to make themselves look better.”
Staff writer Julie Dunn can be reached at 303-954-1592 or at jdunn@denverpost.com.
