Cypress Mountain Unites Top-Down and Bottom-Up Sustainability Strategies to Drive Reductions

As a ski area, Cypress Mountain relies on predictable snow for its winter operation. Located on the North Shore Mountains near Vancouver, a slight increase in temperature can have dramatic effects on the weather.

As climate change continues, Cypress Mountain risks a less predictable snowpack and winter operation. The company joined BMO’s Climate Smart Program in 2012 with the goal of understanding and reducing their greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and ecological footprint.

After more than a decade of working on their reduction efforts, they have discovered that it is necessary to strive toward sustainability from both a top-down and bottom-up approach.

“With a goal of being Net Zero by 2030, we are only at the beginning of our reduction journey. We hope to be a leader in the ski industry by reducing the impacts of our operations and enhancing the protection of our natural environment. By taking advantage of emerging technologies and sharing best practices with other ski areas, we hope to help move the entire ski industry towards more sustainable operations,” said Jenn Dickie, Safety & Sustainability at Cypress Mountain.

Cypress Mountain chose to use Climate Smart to help move them towards their climate goals.

In 2020, Cypress Mountain and its parent company Boyne Resorts joined the National Ski Areas’ Associations (NSAA) Climate Challenge in the United States. The NSAA has set ski area specific goals that go beyond tracking carbon emissions to include a focus on habitat protection and advocacy.

Working with Climate Smart, the company developed and worked towards the goals set out by the NSAA Climate Challenge. Many initiatives require a commitment to capital spending from upper management and a shift in company culture, which will be best accomplished by engaging younger, more seasonal, front-line staff.

The company discovered that having a robust sustainability program is the right thing to do and a huge asset in attracting young and engaged people to the Cypress Mountain team.

Due to this robust sustainability program, Cypress Mountain has seen significant reductions against their 2021 baseline year. Projects such as an LED light retrofit of all outdoor and indoor light fixtures and numerous building upgrades have led to an electricity reduction of 50 percent.

The estimated cost savings from their LED lighting retrofit are in the tens of thousands of dollars in the few years after its completion, as well as the cost savings realized due to a reduction in their peak demand charges.

In 2014, Cypress Mountain began a waste diversion program, which included composting and recycling, that reduced 22 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e). It also made efficiency upgrades to heavy equipment along with a no-idle policy that resulted in a reduction of 23 tCO2e since their baseline year.

Cypress Mountain started its emissions reduction actions with simple, low-cost initiatives such as waste diversion and no-idle policies. Other actions included:

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  Replacing all the lighting around the mountain with LED fixtures

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  Developing an established waste diversion program

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  Replacing the main boilers with on-demand systems

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  Providing a free shuttle bus for staff to avoid individual car usage

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  Continuously working to upgrade facilities to reduce wasted energy.

As the company continued to track its emissions, it became clear that the diesel fuel used by its heavy equipment fleet was the greatest contributor to Cypress Mountain’s carbon footprint, followed by the propane used to heat buildings.

As part of its 2023-2024 sustainability projects, Cypress Mountain took the meaningful step of using renewable diesel in all parts of its operations. The company has secured a source of R100 (no petroleum) with a gel point that enables use in colder temperatures.

In addition, Cypress Mountain procured two Taiga electric snowmobiles, and installed a new Nordic rentals facility that replaces two older buildings and eliminates two propane furnaces. The new building is heated with an electric heat pump.

In recognition of its innovative efforts to shift its equipment and vehicles to renewable diesel, the NSAA named Boyne Resorts a winner of its 2024 Golden Eagle Award for Climate Change Impact and a finalist for an Innovation in Sustainability Award.

While not every program undertaken resulted in cost savings, the overall pace of Cypress Mountain's growth relative to its GHG emissions shows that significant changes resulted in reduced emissions.

Cypress Mountain has made a commitment to be net zero by 2030 and has put a price on all emissions after 2030. The financial benefit of emissions reductions can potentially improve the business case for every sustainability project versus the cost of carbon offsets.

In conjunction with its parent company, Cypress Mountain has committed to a goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2030.

As they move towards this goal, they plan to continue to upgrade facilities and equipment to utilize current and cleaner technology and take advantage of opportunities that arise to reduce their carbon footprint.

Improved fuel and energy monitoring will help them fine-tune their operation to maximize energy use.

Cypress Mountain has several ongoing and future initiatives, which include EV charging stations for the staff, guests, and park users.

They are also working on upgrading older facilities to ensure efficient building and removing propane as a heat source where possible. Their plans include adding fuel tracking software for their fleet vehicles and increased propane and electricity use metering.