In 2025, Climate Ride put on 20 events that took place across 6 countries and 13 states with over 600 participants. In addition to biking and hiking thousands of miles, fundraising and advocating for the Climate Ride cause, many of these participants contributed to the Climate Ride Tailwinds Fund.
Our Tailwinds fund is our solution to carbon offsets, which have become an unreliable and convoluted solution to this enormous issue.
In struggling to find the impossible one-to-one solution for “offsetting” the emissions generated from putting on our events (food, flights, support vehicles, etc.), we’ve found that our greatest net-positive impact lies in what we can do to support local efforts in our communities — efforts that might not move forward without our funding assistance.
At the end of 2024, Climate Ride partnered with Climate Smart Missoula, a Climate Ride Grantee, to identify a local project that we could influence to be more sustainable and benefit the community. Our first Tailwinds project supported reinstating solar panels on an Affordable Housing complex. This year, another non-profit, in collaboration with many partners, is starting construction on a new 17-unit building to house unhoused veterans.
Climate Ride’s Tailwinds Fund is completing the first step of a multi-step process that will allow for this all-electric, energy-efficient building to utilize sustainable energy sources in a coal-powered state. In working with a local solar installer, Onsite Energy, we’re funding an electrical engineering study in early 2026, ahead of any electrical systems work. Climate Ride’s funding support comes just at the right time before construction is complete, so that the electrical wiring plans and structural considerations are made before construction begins. Without this Tailwinds Fund contribution, this project would not have the budget to make these necessary steps, causing barriers and additional costs to solar installation down the road.
Additional funding and grants for the solar panels themselves are already in the works, and getting this building solar-ready will ensure that the grid-tied solar array will be live soon after building construction. The benefits of this project will go beyond avoided carbon emissions. In addition, this collaborative effort will provide our veterans with a safe, sustainable place to live while keeping their utility costs low.
Thank you to all Climate Ride participants who contributed to the Tailwinds Fund in 2024 and 2025.