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

HB 21-1266: 2021 Environmental Justice Act (Environmental Justice Disproportionate Impacted Communities)

Enhances Colorado’s work by creating the Environmental Justice Action Task Force within the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), an ombuds position at CDPHE to serve as an advocate for disproportionately impacted communities, and a Community Impact Cash Fund to provide grants for environmental mitigation projects in impacted communities. The bill also defines disproportionately impacted communities and requires the Air Quality Control Commission (AQCC) to engage with disproportionately impacted communities and propose recommendations to the General Assembly to address environmental justice issues. The bill also obligates utilities that own or operate generation to file clean energy plans and directs the AQCC to develop rules to reduce GHG emissions from oil and gas exploration and the industrial sector. The bill also develops the Environmental Justice Grant Program.

Colorado’s Office of Environmental Justice launched a new Environmental Justice Grants Program Dashboard. The dashboard enhances transparency and accessibility, enabling users to explore projects from three grant cycles and visualize the Department of Public Health and Environment’s investments.

Environmental Justice Grant Program Dashboard

Established by the Environmental Justice Act, the Environmental Justice Grant Program funds projects that help measure, prevent, or reduce pollution in disproportionately impacted communities. Funds also can help pay for technical assistance to help community organizations most effectively participate in rulemaking hearings.

Environmental Justice Grant Program

The Environmental Justice Ombudsperson is a new role within CDPHE. It was created by the Environmental Justice Act (House Bill 21-1266).

The Ombudsperson is appointed by the Governor. They report directly to CDPHE Executive Director Jill Hunsaker Ryan. The Ombudsperson receives administrative support from the Environmental Justice Unit, but is otherwise independent.

Environmental Justice Ombudsperson

The Environmental Justice Advisory Board is a volunteer board. The Governor and Executive Director of CDPHE appoint its 12 members.

The Board serves Colorado by:

    Coordinating with the Environmental Justice Ombudsperson.
    Advising CDPHE on best practices for engaging disproportionately impacted communities.
    Responding to environmental justice policy matters referred by the Governor’s Office or CDPHE.
    Creating and overseeing an environmental justice grants program.

Environmental Justice Advisory Board

Directs the AQCC to develop rules to reduce GHG emissions from the oil and gas industry by at least 60% below 2005 levels by 2030.

Oil and Gas Industry GHG Emissions Reduction Goal

Directs the AQCC to develop rules to reduce GHG emissions from the industrial sector by at least 20% below 2015 levels by 2030.

Industrial and Manufacturing GHG Emissions Reduction Goal

CO EnviroScreen is Colorado's new bilingual interactive environmental justice mapper. CDPHE developed it in collaboration with Colorado State University. CO Enviroscreen combines 35 environmental, health, and demographic indicators. It visualizes areas in Colorado with higher environmental and socioeconomic burdens. The tool also shows places that meet the legal definition of a Disproportionately Impacted Community.

CO EnviroScreen

Defines 'disproportionally impacted communities'

Disproportionally Impacted Communities Definition

The Environmental Justice Action Task Force (“EJATF” or “Task Force”) was created by the Colorado Environmental Justice (“EJ”) Act. The goal of the Task Force is to propose recommendations to the general assembly regarding practical means to address environmental justice inequities, particularly within DICs. The Task Force was comprised of 22 members, appointed by the Governor and legislative leadership, representing a wide variety of technical expertise and demographics. The Task Force began meeting in December 2021 and held seven full Task Force meetings through November 2022.

Environmental Justice Action Task Force

environmental_justice

Executive Order D 2019 011: Conserving Colorado's Big Game Winter Range and Migration Corridors

Directs the Department of Natural Resources and Colorado Parks and Wildlife to map key habitats and migration routes, identify threats and needed policy or legislative changes, and expand public education and voluntary, non‑regulatory conservation with landowners and partners. States that the Department of Transportation must factor wildlife migration into transportation planning and work with Natural Resources to prioritize wildlife crossings and reduce wildlife‑vehicle collisions through a memorandum of understanding.

HB 26-1081, Colorado Grid Optimization Act

HB 26-1081 requires the Colorado Public Utilities Commission to adopt rules requiring a regulated electric utility to consider advanced transmission technologies in the electric utility's 10-year transmission plan and to identify strategies to reduce the costs of new transmission. Additionally, it requires the Electric Transmission Authority to engage and coordinate with formal subregional transmission planning organizations.

Senate Bill 24-218: Modernize Energy Distribution Systems

The act requires the Office of Future of Work to create a grant program, in coordination with the Colorado Energy Office, for lineworker apprenticeship programs. The Office of Future of Work must create a competitive application process and select apprenticeship programs that meet certain training and matching requirements. On July 1, 2024, the state treasurer must transfer $800,000 from the general fund to the Colorado lineworker apprenticeship grant program cash fund, which is created in the act, for the purposes of the grant program.

Lineworker Apprenticeship Grants are competitive awards that assist existing Registered Apprenticeship Programs in the Transmission or Distribution Lineworker Trades, absorb costs associated with career training, and help more people obtain and retain employment in the sector. 

Lineworker Apprenticeship Grants 

just_transition

SB26-021: Clean Fleet Enterprise Replace Aging Diesel Trucks

The bill expands the Clean Fleet Enterprise’s authority to provide financial support for motor vehicle fleet upgrades. 

The bill authorizes the enterprise to incentivize, support, and accelerate the replacement of a motor vehicle that uses compression ignition to start the engine, has a gross vehicle weight rating of greater than 26,000 pounds, is based in the state, and is part of a fleet with in-state annual miles driven of at least 75% of the fleet's total annual miles driven (heavy-duty truck), that is powered by a diesel-fueled internal combustion engine, is a model year of 2009 or earlier, and is registered, operable, and capable of independent roadway operation (aging heavy-duty diesel truck) with a heavy-duty truck that is a model year of 2018 or later (new heavy-duty truck) until December 31, 2031. The bill also allows the enterprise to provide funding or financing through grant programs, rebate programs, revolving loan funds, or other strategies to help owners and operators of aging heavy-duty diesel truck fleets finance the replacement of aging heavy-duty diesel trucks with new heavy-duty trucks to reduce the up-front costs of acquiring new heavy-duty trucks until December 31, 2031.