The gist:
The clean energy transition isn’t coming — it’s here. The question isn’t whether it will happen, but whether your organization will lead, follow, or get left behind. Mountain towns, often working with limited resources in politically challenging environments, are showing us what’s possible when you focus on pragmatic action over perfect conditions.
For corporate sustainability professionals, the opportunity is clear: Learn from the leaders in the trenches. Build unlikely coalitions. Move fast on an accelerating curve. Focus on tangible, local impact that creates real value for your stakeholders.
Mountain perspectives on climate
I live at 8,000 feet. Behind our home, the Eagle River meanders through town — its flow ranging from 200 to 7,000 cubic feet per second depending on snowpack and rainfall. Its headwaters sit up the road from us at the Continental Divide; 35 miles downstream from our home, it joins the Colorado River. Across the road, the White River National Forest stretches 2.3 million acres through the heart of the Rockies. The mountains in our backyard climb to nearly 14,500 feet, stacked with snow each winter. How much snow falls, how it melts, how much rain comes in summer — these factors determine the health of the forest, our community, and ourselves. The impacts ripple across the entire West. The same snow that melts into the Eagle eventually flows into the Colorado, and provides critical water for agriculture and 40 million people from Denver to Las Vegas to Los Angeles.
Last week, I attended the Mountain Towns 2030 Climate Summit in Breckenridge, Colorado. The organization is a movement of mountain, rural, and ski resort communities collaborating to accelerate and scale systemic climate action. About 600 business leaders, elected officials, and municipal and county leaders gathered from places like Sun Valley, Idaho, Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and Park City, Utah.
As Conor Hall, Colorado’s director of outdoor recreation put it in his opening statement: “We feel climate change here first.” It’s not just ecosystems at stake — it’s livelihoods. According to Hall, in Colorado, winter ski and snow tourism represents 30% of the country’s entire $640 billion annual revenue (2.3% of U.S. GDP). According to a 2023 study, regional ski seasons are projected to shorten between 14–33 days (low emissions scenario) and 27–62 days (high emissions scenario) by 2050.
Mayor Kelly Owens of Breckenridge said it plainly in her opening remarks: “Climate action is economic action — and that’s nowhere more true than in the mountains.”
The reality is that we’re all on the front lines of climate change. Mountain towns, so dependent on tourism, natural wonder, and climate stability, understand this better than most municipalities — and they’re leading the charge on climate policy. From decarbonization to green building codes to single-use plastic bottle bans to geothermal systems to battery storage, mountain towns are an anomaly: they’re pushing climate action forward, often in red or purple states and rural locations where you might least expect it.
The momentum is real
“The clean energy movement is here,” said Chris Steinkamp, executive director of Mountain Towns 2030, “and it is unstoppable.”
The evidence backs up that optimism. Bill McKibben, keynote speaker, godfather of climate communications, and author of Here Comes the Sun, shared news from the New York Times that morning: In the first six months of 2025, renewables like solar and wind generated more electricity than coal for the first time ever in the United States.
Mark Jacobson, Stanford professor of civil and environmental engineering and author of No Miracles Needed: How Today's Technology Can Save Our Climate and Clean Our Air presented data showing the dramatic shift in energy economics. The world average levelized cost of electricity in 2023 tells the story:
- Fossil fuels: $100/MWh
- Utility solar: $44/MWh
- Onshore wind: $33/MWh
Fourteen countries now generate 95–100% of their electricity from wind, water, and solar, including Iceland (100%), Ethiopia (99.95%), Paraguay (99.46%), Costa Rica (99.40%), and Norway (98.38%). We heard from Uruguay’s former energy secretary, who led the country to 95% renewable energy use in just five years.
Closer to home, twelve U.S. states now generate 49–120% of their electricity consumption from wind, water, and solar. South Dakota leads at 120%, followed by Montana (95.3%), Iowa (78.5%), and Washington State (76.2%).
Jacobson’s modeling shows pathways for China to reach 100% wind/water/solar by 2045. In less positive news, Jacobson also showed, despite the momentum, how much the U.S. is still behind: we’re not projected to be on the same pathway until 2155. His research demonstrates that transitioning the world to 100% clean energy would create 28 million more jobs than lost worldwide, require only 0.18% of land for infrastructure footprint, avoid approximately 7 million air pollution deaths per year, reduce annual energy costs by 61% compared to fossil fuels, and reduce the combined costs of energy, health, and climate by 92% less than of fossils.
Clean energy isn’t just the right thing to do anymore. It’s the economically smart thing to do.
Mountain towns are leading by example
The most inspiring part of the conference? The work is already happening locally, with mountain towns at the forefront.
Holy Cross Energy, serving 46,000 members (including my home) in Western Colorado, delivered 87% of its power supply from wind, solar, and hydro in 2025 — more than double what they provided in 2017. Our neighboring utilities had similar growth. Xcel Energy, our local natural gas provider that serves 3.9 million people in the country, projects its 2030 energy mix will be 88% carbon-free.
These aren’t aspirational targets. These are operational realities, happening now, in communities that understand the connection between environmental action and economic survival. The leaders of these utilities, representing a diverse range of politics, reiterated a theme from their members: if energy is reliable, safe, and affordable, nobody cares where it comes from.
Three lessons for corporate sustainability leaders
What can corporate sustainability professionals learn from mountain town leaders working in the trenches of climate action?
1. Build unlikely partnerships by meeting people where they are
We heard from Heather Reams, President & CEO of Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions (CRES), a right-of-center nonprofit engaging policymakers on conservative climate solutions. The Conservative Climate Caucus is now one of the biggest caucuses in the House.
Reams was frank: The political climate has had a chilling effect on how Republicans talk about climate. But the work is moving forward anyway. How? By reframing the conversation around what matters to conservative audiences: free market economics, energy independence, and economic security.
When you frame clean energy as cheaper energy, waste reduction as cost savings, and conservation as preserving quality of life, people get interested. The key is knowing your opposition’s talking points and using them as an advantage. Let solar and wind compete on price — they win.
In the West, quality of life matters. Conservation and outdoor recreation matter. These are bipartisan issues when you talk about preserving what makes these places beautiful and economically viable.
The lesson: Stop assuming you need universal agreement on climate science to move climate action forward. Find common ground in economic benefits, cost savings, and shared values. Your stakeholders care about different things — that’s fine. Speak to what they care about.
2. Recognize we’re on the steep part of the s-curve
McKibben emphasized that over the past 36 months, we’ve hit the steep part of a vast ascending S-curve in clean energy adoption. This isn’t gradual change anymore — it’s explosive growth.
For corporate sustainability leaders, this means the business case for clean energy, circular economy practices, and climate resilience isn’t emerging — it’s arrived. The companies moving fastest aren’t early adopters taking risks; they’re pragmatists capturing competitive advantages.
The lesson: Your sustainability strategy should reflect the accelerating pace of change, not the incremental progress of the past. What seemed ambitious three years ago is now table stakes.
3. Focus on local action and tangible results
The recurring theme throughout the summit: Federal policy matters, but local action is where real progress happens. Mountain town leaders aren’t waiting for perfect conditions or universal support. They’re implementing green building codes, banning single-use plastics, installing geothermal systems, and investing in battery storage — all while managing small budgets, navigating political complexity, and communicating their progress to the visitors who come to these destinations from all over the map.
These leaders emphasized showing, not just telling. Demonstrate financial savings. Point to local job creation. Highlight improved air quality and community health outcomes. Make the benefits tangible and immediate.
The lesson: Your sustainability report is important, but your operational reality matters more. What are you actually doing? What results can you show? What benefits are your stakeholders experiencing right now, not in 2050? That’s the story that builds credibility and momentum. So how and where can you tell it in a way that actually captures attention?
The path forward
Climate action can feel abstract (and depressing) when viewed through the lens of international agreements and federal policy debates. But spend time with municipal leaders managing watersheds, energy co-ops delivering renewable power to rural communities, and mayors connecting climate action to economic survival, and it becomes tangible and immediate.
The front lines of climate action aren’t in Geneva or Washington. They’re in Breckenridge, Sun Valley, and thousands of communities choosing to act. The momentum is real, the economics are compelling, and the path forward is becoming clearer every day.
Climate action is still moving forward. You just have to know where to look.
