ForeverProject
Our Commitment To Net Zero Emissions And Building A Sustainable Tomorrow
Boyne Resorts recognizes human-driven climate change as an urgent issue for the world, as well as for the SnowSports industry. In early 2021, we formalized commitments to climate action and announced our ForeverProject.
ForeverProject is an initiative to attain a sustainable tomorrow through collaboration, by positively affecting the lasting impact our resorts, team members, and guests have on the planet.
- Achieve net zero emissions by 2030: Read our ForeverProject 2030 Master Plan
- Power all operations with 100% clean electricity
- Reduce dependence on carbon-based fuels in existing buildings through energy efficiency upgrades and electrification
- Develop and implement high-efficiency green building standards for design and construction of new facility and real estate projects
- Upgrade our lift networks, installing the most technologically advanced lifts, and enhancing the energy efficiency of lift houses
- Install low-energy equipment while expanding snowmaking
- Add on-site renewable energy generation projects
- Monitor emerging technologies to identify opportunities to maximize efficiency and electrification of fleet vehicles and equipment
- Seek partnerships with local and/or meaningful programs to sequester carbon
- Expand composting efforts by sorting post-consumer compostables in the food court during the 2022-23 season increasing diversion rate by over 600% from previous year
- Enhance recycling through increased availability around property for guests and team members to participate as well as educational training for team members
- Partner with non-profit organizations to donate items, from uniforms to equipment
- Participate in roadside clean up annually, and host ForeverProject on-mountain clean up each spring and fall
- Protect and limit disturbances to wildlife habitats, forests, and wetland ecosystems, and commit to plant a tree for every tree removed
- Conserve water through installing low-flow plumbing fixtures in Main Lodge and actively monitor soil moisture on golf courses to reduce the frequency of irrigation
- Educate team members on the purpose of specific plans and encourage their input and ideas through monthly ForeverProject Team meetings
- Be a leader in the community, helping to educate other local businesses about sustainability and welcoming their participation in initiatives, like Thriving Petoskey
- Advocate at local, regional, and national levels for policies that promote climate solutions as a member of Citizen's Climate Lobby and Michigan Recycling Coalition
- Invest in Team Member housing to address local housing shortages
- Encourage and provide options to team members to utilize sustainable modes of transportation
- Offer affordable daycare to team members
- Develop great people
- Promote carpooling and sustainable transportation options to and from our property
- Collaborate with local and regional non-profits, government agencies, and community organizations
Our 2030 Journey
We have mapped a transformation for the years to come, one we mean to achieve in the most sustainable way possible, through what we call the ForeverProject. The late, great founder of this story, Everett Kircher, once said, “You have to make improvements. Otherwise, you won’t make progress.” So here we go, we’re building a better future, sharing every step as we go. Most of all, we’re making more room for the stories that will transform people’s lives forever.
Guiding Principles
Mindful Efficiency
Create and maintain a culture of reduction: energy use, waste output, water impact; balanced with maximized utilization of our human, technological, natural, and financial resources.
Tireless Conservation
Protect the natural environment unwaveringly, ensuring proper use for purposes related to outdoor recreation, and preserving or rehabilitating the land over which we are stewards.
Innovative Collaboration
Support and reward outreach and partnerships that extend beyond all traditional boundaries, providing deeply valuable impact among our team members, and in our communities, industry, and environment for the long term.
Energy Efficient Snowmaking
The Highlands recently replaced several of our older snow guns with state-of-the-art HKD R5 Impulse towers and sleds out on North Peak. This installation will not only allow us to open a skiers’ favorite earlier in the season, but it will use only a fraction of the amount of compressed air formerly needed for snowmaking. These energy efficient snow guns have lowered the required time to cover the same amount of terrain by nearly 24 percent, allowing The Highlands to outpace the regional effects of climate change. This installation is projected to save over 600,000 kWH, throughout the course of each season.
Composting & Recycling
The Highlands has recently teamed up with Emmet County Recycling to compost all our pre-consumer food waste. We are proud to be working with a program that last year alone diverted over 220,000 pounds of local restaurant food waste from the landfill. They in turn mix the food waste with yard waste and turn it into nutrient rich compost for local farmers and gardeners. Additionally, our food and beverage department has switched to using Your Green2Go compostable takeout containers and plant starch utensils. Our new composting program is a nice complement to our current recycling efforts, which last year alone were responsible for diverting over 290,000 pounds of paper and over 115,000 pounds of mixed containers from the landfill.
Renewable Energy Commitment
As of January 1, 2021, Boyne Resorts committed to a renewable energy purchase with CMS Enterprises, a CMS Energy subsidiary, which entirely offsets electric energy consumption at its resorts and facilities throughout North America. As a result, The Highlands’ electrical consumption will be 100% renewable energy for 2021 by sourcing a global purchase of renewable energy credits.
In the News
- Offset Your TripOne of the major steps The Highlands has taken in reaching our 2030 net-zero emissions goal is to partner with Tradewater to offset emissions from our operation.Offset Your Trip
- Good For MichiganThe Environment category celebrates a company's overall environmental stewardship, including how the company manages general environmental impacts as well as specific topics like climate, water use and sustainability, and impacts on land and life.Read About The Winners
- ForeverProject DayAcross Boyne Resorts, we are celebrating ForeverProject Day with mini-sustainable projects to enhance sustainability and recycling efforts. From trash clean-up to planting native Michigan wildflowers, The Highlands Team embodied ForeverProject!
Boyne Resorts is committed to a goal of reducing carbon emissions to net zero throughout our North American operations by 2030.