AAI is Taking Action to Fight Climate Change - Join Us!
Our Trips and Operations are Carbon-Neutral
A Personal Message:
As we celebrate the National Park Service Centennial and are reminded how important our national parks and national forests are to us, it is good to think about how directly our personal carbon consumption and our daily use of energy affects the well being of those lands.
The warming planet has already had destructive impacts on many of our parks. Our decisions, as individuals and as large and small companies alike, collectively make all the difference in maintaining healthy parks or losing treasures that include habitat, wildlife, and glaciers.
Join us in reducing energy consumption, buying clean energy when possible, and purchasing carbon offsets when green energy is not available, and play a direct role in conserving our parks and forests.
— Dunham Gooding, President
Sustainability, care of the environment, and climate action are priorities for AAI as a company and for each of our employees. That is why we have established the AAI Climate Initiative, an ambitious program to combat climate change. Since every pound of CO2 released into the atmosphere diminishes both the short and long-term health of the landscapes we cherish, recreate in, and work in, we use clean energy sources whenever we can, and when they are not available, we use carbon offsets and Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) to come as close as possible to having a zero carbon footprint.
We also encourage all climbers connected with the Institute and all who love outdoor recreation to partner with us in making environmental and climate action top priorities, certainly when trekking or climbing in the mountains – but also in our daily lives. AAI is a leader in the outdoor industry and the guiding profession in the global fight against climate change, and we are working to make it easy for you to partner with us in a dramatic move to clean energy.
Here’s how we’re taking action:
1. Action at AAI’s Office
Though we operate in six US states and 16 countries, we are headquartered in Bellingham, Washington. In both our administrative and our equipment services buildings, we use 100% clean electricity purchased through Puget Sound Energy's Green Power Program. The Institute basically pays Puget Power to buy green energy and to invest in the development of projects in livestock methane capture, landfill gas capture, and the expansion of wind and solar power sources in the United States. We also offset the carbon emissions of our employees’ commutes and those of our errand vehicles through Terrapass – a carbon-offset program.*
2. Action on the Institute’s Trips
All of our trips are carbon neutral, with their carbon footprints offset through Terrapass.* The offsets cover the Institute’s:
• Vehicle fuel,
• Fuel consumption by guides when driving personal vehicles for
AAI programs, and
• Fuels used to power stoves in the mountains.
For our Denali and all international treks and expeditions, we make these trips 100% carbon neutral by offsetting participants’:
• Air travel from home to the program site,
• Local transportation,
• Fuel consumption for cooking in the mountains, and
• Electricity used while at hotels and lodges
3. Action by AAI Climbers & All Recreationists
The Institute encourages trekkers and climbers to participate in our Green Power programs and to purchase Carbon Offsets or RECs. Those who trek or climb with AAI can apply 50% of what they spend on Green Power and Carbon Offsets (for their trips or for life at home) as a credit to the cost of their AAI programs.
Click here to learn more, move to clean energy, and join the fight against climate change.
*Terrapass is a not-for-profit that invests AAI’s carbon offset funds in programs that capture greenhouse (e.g., at landfills), develop renewable energy, and sequester greenhouse gasses (through the development of forest reserves). Terapass is audited by the nationally recognized Climate Action Reserve.
“Preserve what you most care about. Join us in the move to clean energy, and join us in the fight against climate change.”
– Dunham Gooding, AAI President
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