Colorado making progress toward greenhouse gas reduction goals - Steamboat Pilot & Today

Colorado making progress toward greenhouse gas reduction goals | SteamboatToday.com

Colorado making progress toward greenhouse gas reduction goals

Grants, tax credits available for multiple climate initiatives
Suzie Romig/Steamboat Pilot & Today

During a Yampa Valley community presentation, Senior Policy Advisor Christine Berg from the Colorado Energy Office said municipalities, businesses, nonprofit entities and partners are eligible for a variety of environmental and climate-action grants and tax credit opportunities for initiatives ranging from electric vehicle charging stations and geothermal energy use to electrification of public buildings.

Berg spoke at the nonprofit Yampa Valley Sustainability Council’s community meeting in November to provide information on climate action-supporting funding opportunities. Berg also provided an overview of the Colorado Greenhouse Gas Pollution Reduction Roadmap 2.0, which the Colorado Energy Office has been working to update this year.

The updated roadmap includes a new local government section informed by extensive stakeholder engagement.

“Starting in 2021 we set our plans on how to meet our climate targets including statewide near-term actions,” Berg said. “So far so good, we are looking like it is time to do a reboot because by 2022 we had completed 95% of our identified near-term actions. It was time to go back out and talk to stakeholders.”

“The big message is we are doing really, really well because we have implemented so many different emission reduction strategies across the sectors, so it’s pretty exciting stuff.” — Senior Policy Advisor Christine Berg, Colorado Energy Office

With actions taken statewide since the state adopted the original roadmap in 2021, as well as the impacts of recent federal legislation, “Colorado is more than 80% of the way to meeting its statutory goal of a 50% emissions reduction in 2030 from 2005 levels,” Berg explained.

Some of the ongoing initiatives making a difference include Colorado clean car and advanced clean truck standards, greenhouse gas pollution reduction requirements for manufacturers, methane intensity monitoring and reduction requirements for the oil and gas industry, solar ready and electric ready building codes, and energy performance standards for existing large buildings.

Although Berg said that 80% accomplishment is good news, getting to 100% will require more actions ranging from accelerated geothermal energy generation adoption to more wind, solar and battery storage capacity.

Modeling conducted for the Colorado Energy Office shows that current policies and the economic deployment of clean energy resources can achieve 98.5% emissions reduction by 2040 below 2005 levels at no incremental costs.

“So, we are looking pretty good; we are not going to stop here,” Berg said. “There will be additional legislation that ratchets our greenhouse gas down even further. Market forces already are pushing renewable energy to the top.”

Funding is available on the state and federal levels for: Commercial Clean Vehicle Tax Credit, Climate Pollution Reduction Grant, Geothermal Energy Grant Program, Geothermal Electricity Tax Credit, Public Building Electrification Grant, Charge Ahead Colorado and Fleet Zero Emissions Resource Opportunity.

For example, the Colorado Energy Office’s Geothermal Energy Grant Program supports the use of zero-emission, geothermal energy for electricity generation and space and water heating and cooling in homes, businesses and communities. In addition, businesses and tax-exempt organizations that buy a qualified commercial clean vehicle may qualify for a clean vehicle IRS tax credit of up to $40,000.

More information on the programs are available by contacting the Colorado Energy Office at 303-866-2100 or visiting Energyoffice.colorado.gov. The state funding and programming has advanced due to a mix of state legislation as well as federal programming and funding.

“It’s been a very exciting time at the Colorado Energy Office,” Berg noted. “We went from 30 staff about four years ago to almost 80 staff today.”

To reach Suzie Romig, call 970-871-4205 or email sromig@SteamboatPilot.com.
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