REI Co-op is closing 2025 by doubling down on climate action, rolling out new renewable energy projects, nature-based climate solutions, and lower-impact materials that link its outdoor business model directly to the health of the planet. The Seattle-based co-op is using its scale as the nation’s largest consumer cooperative, with 24 million members, to push cleaner power, circular textiles, and community-centered climate education across the United States.
Clean energy in local communities
A major focus for REI Co-op in 2025 has been backing clean energy in the same communities where it operates stores and partners. One headline project is a new 2.5MW community solar array in Woodbury, Minnesota, developed with US Solar, which will enable nearly 500 low to moderate-income households to subscribe to renewable power and cut utility bills near the co-op’s Bloomington store.
The co-op also entered an aggregated Virtual Power Purchase Agreement, or VPPA, with Carhartt and…
other partners that will add 18.5MW of solar energy to the grid in Texas, accelerating new renewable capacity that individual brands might struggle to unlock alone.
In South Carolina, REI Co-op celebrated the launch of another renewable energy project with Ever.green, building on earlier investments to keep adding clean power to regional grids. Partnerships that make climate action “more real and lasting” For REI Co-op, partnerships are the engine behind this climate progress.
Andrew Dempsey, Director of Sustainability at REI Co-op, said, “When companies come together, climate action becomes more real and more lasting,” highlighting how shared projects can move faster and scale bigger than isolated efforts.
Over the past year, REI extended its relationship with Sol Systems and Nester Hosiery (one of its largest U.S. manufacturing partners) through a new three-year renewable energy certificate purchase agreement…
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