Vail, Colorado, is already an exceptional place, and we’re making it even better as a sustainable travel destination.
The Town of Vail and its community are committed to sustainability efforts, including waste reduction, energy conservation, renewable energy, green building, ecosystem health, alternative transportation and fuels, public education, and social and economic development. The Town of Vail is also committed to the stewardship and protection of our unique mountain environment so that our guests today and into the future can experience the best that Vail has to offer.
Read on to learn about the many ways Vail is putting talk into action as a sustainable travel destination.
Electric Buses
The Town of Vail now operates electric buses as part of its in-town transit fleet. This expansion supports the town’s goal of converting its entire transit fleet to fully electric buses by 2032. Here’s how to get around Vail via bus.
Electric Vehicle Charging Stations
To accommodate the growing demand for electric vehicle charging capacity, multi-port Level 2 electric vehicle ChargePoint charging stations are available in the Vail Village parking structure, the Lionshead Village garage and in the Red Sandstone parking garage. These Level 2 stations are free to use and — depending on utilization — may deliver 10–20 miles of range per hour of charging. In addition, there are single-port Level 3 DC Fast Chargers available in the short-term parking of the Lionshead parking structure. These Level 3 charging stations can deliver 60 to 80 miles of range in 20 minutes of charging and have an associated cost to use. Find up-to-date information on Vail charging stations here.
Awards
Global Top 100 Destination: Vail has been recognized as a Global Top 100 Destination every year since 2017 through the Green Destinations Top 100 Destination Sustainability Stories award program. This prestigious designation honors Vail’s ongoing commitment to sustainability by highlighting best practices. In 2024, Vail was selected for the Top 100 with the story “Alpine Plants: A Story of Adaptation, Resilience, and Conservation.” This story showcases the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens’ innovative Alpine Plant Strategy, designed to conserve alpine plant species and their unique ecosystems.
Sustainable Destination Recertification: Vail achieved recertification of the Mountain IDEAL standard. Led by Vail’s Destination Stewardship Council and Steering Committee, the collective efforts of community stakeholders showed continuous improvement on the 54 sustainable destination best practices covering themes such as community planning, visitor use, stakeholder engagement, emergency response, cultural and natural heritage preservation and environmental conservation.
Best in Americas Award: The Vail community was honored with the 2020 “Best in Americas” Award for continued progress made toward waste diversion in a mountain community. The award was presented by Green Destinations, a global nonprofit foundation promoting sustainable tourism.
Climate Leader Award: Vail was recognized as one of 88 cities across the globe that continued to lead on environmental action during the year. Vail’s “A” list rating for 2020 was awarded by CDP Cities, a global emissions reporting platform
Community & Business Programs in Vail
Climate Action Plan 2020 Update Adopted: Vail joined other Eagle County communities in working to achieve a 25% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2025, 50% by 2030 and 80% by 2050.
Actively Green Certification: This is a sustainability-focused training and certification program for all businesses, including the tourism industry. Actively Green provides a framework of sustainable business criteria and performance indicators that support any business in elevating performance with the use of best management practices specific to sustainability principles.
Restoration Work & Energy Efficiency
Restore the Gore: The Town of Vail is committed to educating local residents and businesses about the challenges of protecting Gore Creek’s delicate ecosystem. Part of this involves sharing resources and information about the issues, risks and steps that members of our community can take to help Restore the Gore.
Energy Efficiency Program: Town of Vail partners with Energy Smart Colorado and Walking Mountains Science Center to provide free energy audits and double rebates for energy efficiency upgrades for residents and businesses in Vail.
Sole Power Green Commuting Challenge: Sole Power is the free, green commuting challenge for Eagle County residents that supports active transportation such as biking, walking and skating instead of motorized options to commute to work, run errands or attend social engagements. Participants get outside, get fit, reduce their carbon footprint, save money, win prizes and have fun. Previous years saw 283 participants logging nearly 52,000 miles and reducing over 47,800 pounds of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Compost Pilot Program: Town of Vail and Vail Honeywagon kicked off the West Vail Residential Curbside Compost Pilot Program.