Leveraging
Jackson HOle's
Power of Place
into Ideas and Action
OUR MISSION
Founded in 2002, the Jackson Hole Institute (JHI) is a nonpartisan NGO. Our work rests on two theories of change.
THEORY OF CHANGE ONE: ENERGY COMMUNITIES
The climate challenge will be won or lost in the regions that power the world. Places like Wyoming have what the next energy era needs: land, transmission, infrastructure, and a skilled workforce. We partner directly with energy communities to build what clean, next-generation energy needs to scale: local capacity, investment-ready projects, and the capital to bring them to life. Lower emissions, stronger local economies, and investor returns reinforce one another.
THEORY OF CHANGE TWO: THE POWER OF PLACE
Jackson Hole has unique power of place - the ability to bring people together across divides to solve challenges. In 1989, Secretary of State James Baker and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze met here, and the trust they built on its trails and rivers helped ease Cold War tensions at a pivotal moment.
OUR TWO PILLARS
We partner directly with energy communities to build local capacity, structure investment-ready projects, and mobilize the capital to bring them to life. We are piloting Energy Communities Investing (ECI) in Campbell County, Wyoming, America's largest coal-producing county. ECI builds on the Jackson Hole Investor Group, our network of 100 accredited investors who connect private capital with clean, next-generation energy opportunities in Wyoming.
There is no global climate solution unless the United States and China lead. They are the world's two largest economies, energy consumers, and carbon emitters, together responsible for about 45 percent of global CO₂ emissions. Since 2003, we have built clean energy and just transition partnerships between their coal regions, starting with Wyoming and Shanxi Province, which together mine about 16 percent of the world's coal. Transforming these regions into clean energy leaders can create a global tipping point on managing carbon emissions.
Power of Place
Jackson Hole's Power of Place creates an space to bridge divides, build trust and hammer out new thinking. We put that conviction to work at every scale, from private diplomacy to public conversation. Our Track 2 dialogues have brought together unofficial voices on issues from U.S.-China energy cooperation to the war in Ukraine.
The Jackson Hole Summit convenes leaders in business, government, investment, and civil society to generate new thinking on global challenges, with a focus on climate and energy.
Since 2008, the Jackson Hole Roundtable (formerly the Global Business Roundtable) has brought leading voices on business, energy, and global affairs to Jackson for candid conversations with our members.
The Global Change Series opens these conversations to the wider public, with events on the forces reshaping our world.
