Alliance members are working to achieve the Paris Agreement’s goal of keeping temperature increases below 1.5 degrees Celsius by reducing emissions, accelerating action, centering equity, and tracking progress. 

Explore Colorado's policies and actions across the Alliance's 10 key policy areas. Numbers presented below only reflect the number of policies in this database and thus may not reflect all climate policies pursued.

colorado

GHG Targets + Governance

Just Transition + Equity

Industry

Pricing Carbon + Valuing Damages

Electricity

Transportation

Resilience

Natural + Working Lands

Climate Finance

Buildings

total

Colorado Greenhouse Gas Pollution Reduction Roadmap

In January 2021, Colorado released its Greenhouse Gas Pollution Reduction Roadmap. The GHG Roadmap represents the most action-oriented, ambitious and substantive planning process Colorado has ever undertaken on climate leadership, pollution reduction and clean energy transition. It lays out an achievable pathway to meet the state’s science-based climate targets of 26% by 2025, 50% by 2030 and 90% by 2050 from 2005 levels that were part of House Bill 19-1261 Climate Action Plan to Reduce Pollution.

The GHG Roadmap shows Colorado’s largest sources of GHG emissions are transportation, electricity generation, oil and gas development and fuel use in homes, business and industrial applications. Findings show that meeting the 2025 and 2030 goals is achievable with existing cost-effective technologies, but progressing toward these goals will require additional policies beyond the actions the state has taken already. 

Key Steps to Achieving 2030 Targets:

- Continue swift transition away from coal to renewable electricity
- Make deep reductions in methane pollution from oil and gas development
- Accelerate the shift to electric cars, trucks and buses
- Make changes to transportation planning and investment and land use planning to encourage alternatives to driving
- Increase building efficiency and electrification
- Reduce methane waste from landfills, waste water and other sources

Statewide GHG emission reduction goal for Natural and Working Lands of 1.0 million metric tons CO2-equivalent by 2030 when compared to 2005 GHG pollution levels.

Natural and Working Lands Greenhouse Gas Reduction Goal

As part of the near-term actions in its Greenhouse Gas Pollution Reduction Roadmap, Colorado identified the development & utilization of a Task Force as an important step to better understand the role that carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) can play in meeting the state’s emissions targets. The evaluation will include an inventory of existing initiatives and recent publications that analyze or identify carbon capture, transport, utilization, and storage opportunities in Colorado

State of Colorado Carbon Capture, Utilization and Sequestration (CCUS) Task Force

natural_and_working_lands

Polis Administration Launches Home Energy Rebates Program

The Colorado Energy Office launched its first set of consumer-facing rebates through its federally funded Home Energy Rebate Program. The rebates will provide up to $14,000 in savings per qualified household to make eligible energy upgrades in single-family and manufactured/mobile homes. Funding for these incentives comes from the Home Electrification and Appliance Rebate (HEAR) program established by the Inflation Reduction Act.

HB24-1304: Minimum Parking Requirements

The act prohibits a municipality that is within a metropolitan planning organization (MPO) or a county that has unincorporated areas within an MPO (local government) from enacting or enforcing minimum parking requirements that apply to a land use approval for a multi-family residential development, adaptive re-use for residential purposes, or adaptive re-use mixed-use purposes which include at least 50% of use for residential purposes that is within, as applicable, the unincorporated area of the county or the municipality, within a metropolitan planning organization, and at least partially within an applicable transit service area. An applicable transit service area is an area identified by a map published by the department of local affairs as an area that is one-quarter mile of certain transit stops.

By June 30, 2025, for areas in metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) and at least partially within Applicable Transit Service Areas, local governments must not enact or enforce local laws requiring minimum parking for multifamily residential, adaptive reuse for residential, or adaptive reuse for mixed use that is at least 50% residential.

The Legislative Declaration of HB24-1304 emphasizes that minimum off-street parking requirements restrict the amount of housing that can be built on many sites, and that many parking spaces in residential developments often go unused. One recent study (Residential Parking in Stations Areas: A Study of Metro Denver) of multifamily housing near RTD stations found that approximately 40% of parking spaces for market rate housing and 50% of parking spaces for income-restricted housing are unused by residents at peak times. 

Minimum parking requirements that exceed what is necessary for the residents and visitors not only increases the cost of housing but also lowers development density, which is associated with higher vehicle ownership, more vehicle miles traveled, more greenhouse gas emissions, and reduced walking and bicycling.

Prohibition of Minimum Parking Requirements Near Public Transit

transportation

Public Utility Commission Decision Establishing 2035 Clean Heat Plan Target, Adopting Rules, and Closing Proceeding (C25-0851)

The Colorado Public Utility Commission amended greenhouse gas targets for gas utility clean heat plans to include a 41 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in calendar year 2035, as compared to a 2015 baseline.

Transit Connections Study

Transit is an important part of Colorado’s transportation system. It helps to manage traffic congestion, improve mobility, connect urban and rural communities, and reduce air pollution. In working towards building a statewide transit network, CDOT’s Division of Transit and Rail (DTR) launched the Transit Connections Study (TCS).

The TCS aims to provide a strategic vision for an interconnected statewide transit network. This includes identifying transit gaps and needs and highlighting opportunities to further integrate Colorado’s transit network with intercity, regional, and local transit/mobility providers.

This study envisions a future where Colorado’s Statewide Transit Network is:

- Comprehensive: Providing a connected network of services across the state, focusing on key corridors.
- Accessible & Equitable: Addressing the needs of rural, underserved, and transit-dependent communities by ensuring equitable transit access and breaking down barriers to mobility opportunities
- Reliable: Enhancing transit services through infrastructure improvements and maintaining consistent, predictable travel times for transit users.
- Integrated: Collaborating with local transit agencies and communities to ensure seamless connections between transit systems, mobility hubs,
- Sustainable: Considering operational costs alongside capital needs to ensure long-term financial viability and strategic investments.
- Fosters Strategic Growth: Encouraging denser development near transit hubs, reducing car dependence and emissions but also maximizing infrastructure use for a sustainable future.