Webinar — keeping mountain towns insurable: Building resilience through collective action
Date: Wednesday, September 25
Presented by: Premiums for the Planet, in partnership with the Park City Chamber of Commerce
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Overview:
Insurance markets are shifting in ways that directly threaten the future of mountain towns. Rising wildfire risk, shrinking snowpack, and increasingly unpredictable weather are driving up premiums and in many cases making coverage unavailable. For Park City businesses, this isn’t just an inconvenience. It’s about whether you can remain insured, financed, and protected for the long term.
And when insurance disappears, towns collapse. Without coverage, businesses can’t access loans, replace losses, or survive disasters. Employees lose jobs, families are forced to leave, and customers lose the small businesses that give towns their character. The ripple effect of uninsurability threatens not just companies but the entire fabric of mountain communities.
This session, introduced by Scott House of the Park City Chamber of Commerce and led by Nick Gardner of Premiums for the Planet, highlighted both the challenge and the solution: collective action. Premiums for the Planet is helping towns like Park City organize their businesses to send a united demand signal that insurers must respond to. By joining forces, communities create pressure for stable, resilient coverage that no single business could achieve on its own.
For the full, in-depth recap, scroll to bottom.
SharEABLE highlight clips:
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In-Depth Event REcap:
Nick Gardner explained why insurers are retreating and what that means for businesses today. Coverage is not just a cost issue. It is the foundation that allows companies to operate, access financing, employ people, and recover from disaster. Without it, entire local economies unravel.
But he also pointed to a solution. In Tahoe Donner, businesses and homeowners created a collective approach that forced insurers to take notice. By pooling demand, presenting clear data, and signaling community-wide commitment to resilience, they restored coverage that had been disappearing.
Nick emphasized that Park City can take a similar path. By organizing its business community, the town can demonstrate reduced risk, send a clear demand signal, and protect its economy. Premiums for the Planet exists to help do exactly that — turning insurance premiums into collective power that keeps mountain towns insurable.
Scott House underscored the urgency from a local perspective, pointing out that Park City’s economy depends on insurability, both for its small businesses and the families who rely on them. He stressed the Chamber’s role as a convener and why working with Premiums for the Planet is such a critical next step.
Top Three Takeaways
Insurance is the backbone of resilience. Without it, businesses lose access to financing, employees lose jobs, families are forced to leave, and mountain towns collapse.
Collective demand changes markets. Communities like Tahoe Donner proved that when businesses organize, insurers must respond and re-engage.
PFP provides the path forward. By helping Park City pool its demand and act together, Premiums for the Planet offers a clear model to secure coverage and build long-term resilience.
What the Speakers Said
Scott House — Park City Chamber of Commerce
On why this matters locally: “If you are not insurable, you can’t be successful in business. Doesn’t matter profits or growth. If you can’t protect your business from risk, you can’t move forward. And what we’re seeing in mountain towns is this growing issue of uninsurability.”
On the Chamber’s role: “The Chamber is not an insurance broker. We don’t underwrite anything. We’re a convener. What we do is bring coalitions together, convene businesses and experts to drive meaningful solutions. This is the first step in building that coalition.”
On next steps: “Please share these materials with other members of our business community. Encourage them to engage with us and with Nick and the team at Premiums for the Planet. This is just the kickoff. We’re going to keep going.”
Nick Gardner — Premiums for the Planet
On why insurance matters: “Insurance is the invisible backbone of a community, and that backbone is cracking. When insurance goes, so does the stability of mountain towns like Park City.”
On the scale of the problem: “Just last year in Utah, premiums spiked nearly 20 percent, the sharpest increase in the West. For high-risk homes, premiums now stretch into the thousands. These aren’t abstract numbers. They’re real bills that business owners and homeowners are opening every day.”
On the solution: “We’re going to talk through the solution and how collective action, which is core to Premiums for the Planet, can turn your insurance premiums into power. Tahoe Donner showed that when communities organize, insurers are willing to come back. Park City can do the same.”
On urgency: “Every year we wait, risks grow and coverage shrinks. The sooner we organize, the stronger our position becomes and the more affordable protection will be in the long run.”
On Park City’s opportunity: “Park City has the chance not just to solve its own problem, but to become a national example of how mountain towns can protect themselves against climate-driven insurance crises.”
How to Take Action Now
Be part of the solution — join the effort to keep Park City insurable.
👉 Community Engagement Form
Premiums for the Planet
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Park City Chamber of Commerce
Stay engaged through upcoming resilience initiatives and continue to build the momentum started in this session.