Colorado’s new climate roadmap is a vital resource for Boulder

Boulder’s best future is one where our community is affordable, inclusive and safe for everyone. These things are in reach and a lot of what’s needed to get there will also make us more climate-resilient.

We’ve made strides. The City of Boulder has provided more than $8 Million in equity-focused rebates to over 5,000 households and 1,300 local businesses. We have created one of the most aggressive building codes in the country which is saving families energy and reducing our exposure to price spikes. We’ve installed over 100 megawatts of local renewable generation which is de-smogging our summers.

These initiatives are part of how we’ve reduced our community-wide emissions by nearly 40% since 2005.

We also have a lot more to do, and we need help.

Which is why I’m glad Colorado’s new climate strategy, the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Reduction Roadmap, Version 2.0 is out. This framework from Governor Polis’ administration commits to a series of legislative and regulatory actions while coordinating new initiatives throughout the state.

More to the point, Polis’ new climate plan helps Boulder go further toward what we’re already trying to do on our own. Some things in the plan we can use:

• Build a state economy with more affordable and better options for households. The plan alleviates pressure on our state housing market by encouraging the construction of more housing options in urban areas already zoned for housing. It continues to build our statewide network for transit and bikeability, giving more people more chances to be less reliant on cars and improving the economics for Boulder’s and other municipalities’ future transit and safe streets investments. And it adds new planning, regulations and public investments to help reduce the costs of electrifying everything, from vehicles to buildings.

• Create jobs and develop the workforce to seize this moment. Climate investments— and the need for new services—are historically large and growing. The plan aims to cut Colorado into this generational opportunity by developing a strategy to build the workforce for critical trades we already need like electricians, EV mechanics and transit operators. As part of this, it seeks to train the current workforce, scale existing workforce development pipelines and build new pipelines connecting with communities that have historically been the most left out.

• Continue to make public utilities more responsive to the public and modernize our electrical grid. The plan creates a framework to achieve nearly 100% clean electricity statewide by 2040. It provides support for a more streamlined and predictable avenue to building renewables and transmission. It creates standards for project developers to transition to alternatives to current net metering. And it makes the grid stronger and more resilient.

• Ensure other cities and industries are pulling their weight. The plan extends Colorado’s commitments to renewables on the grid and sets a new target for 2040. It ensures large commercial buildings are doing their share while creating new accountability measures for oil and gas. And it encourages other cities to step up closer to Boulder’s level of climate action.

• Develop opportunities for innovators. Finally, the plan prioritizes new funding opportunities for farm projects and community investments in support of a just transition. And it does this while updating our shared roadmap to help with investment coordination around the state.

Boulder has a big climate journey ahead. The state’s new roadmap is a resource for us, and I look forward to working with Boulder’s leaders to help our community make the best use of it.