ABOUT US

Founded in 2002, the Jackson Hole Institute (JHI) leverages the valley's Power of Place into ideas and action. Our work rests on two theories of change, and both begin with place.

​

We are rooted in Jackson Hole's history of conservation and environmentalism. From the beginning, local concern about the global challenge of climate change and its impacts here at home forged our theory of change: to partner with the world's largest coal-producing regions to scale the energy transformation. We believe doing so can create a positive tipping point on global carbon emissions, deliver affordable and resilient energy, and benefit the environment worldwide, all the way down to Jackson Hole. Working directly with these energy communities, we accelerate strategies for economic diversification that create new jobs, attract new industries, and build thriving economies, ensuring their energy leadership continues well into the future.

 

At the global level, in 2003, JHI, known then as the Jackson Hole Center for Global Affairs, launched the U.S. China Clean Energy Initiative. This initiative has worked to strengthen clean energy collaboration in fields including carbon capture and beyond between Wyoming and Shanxi, China, the two largest coal-producing regions from the globe’s two largest economies and carbon-emitting nations: the USA and China.  For the globe to act on climate, the U.S. and China must lead. 

​

In 2023, JHI launched the Jackson Hole Investor Group (JHIG) to unlock private capital for Wyoming's energy leadership opportunities. JHIG connects accredited investors, from Jackson Hole and beyond, with energy projects that create jobs and benefit communities. This platform has built our approach to pilot and prove Energy Communities Investing (ECI) in Campbell County, showing that lower emissions, good jobs, and strong investor returns are not trade-offs but results of the same well-structured deal.

​

Our second theory of change is the Power of Place: beautiful places make room for new thinking. Jackson Hole proved it in 1989, when Secretary of State James Baker and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze met here and the trust they built helped ease Cold War tensions. In the shadow of the Tetons, people set aside their talking points and find common ground. 

​

Our Track 2 dialogues have brought together unofficial voices from countries at odds to explore what official channels cannot. Our Jackson Hole Summit series brings leaders in business, government, investment markets, and civil society together to generate new thinking on global challenges, with a focus on climate change. Since 2008, the Jackson Hole Roundtable (formerly the Global Business Roundtable) has brought its members together with dynamic global thinkers, making Jackson Hole an incubator for ideas. And the Global Change Series offers free public events where the Jackson community digs into the world's largest challenges. Across all four, the goal is ideas that lead to action.

​

JHI's 2024-2025 Biennial Report is here. 

​

In all of our work, we welcome collaboration.