Denver Climate Action Plan

Known as the Mile High City because of its elevation exactly one mile above sea level and located at the foothills of
the Rocky Mountains, Denver is the capital and most populous city in Colorado and leading the state in Climate Planning
Current Mitgaton Strategies
City Leading by Example
Make city fleet improvements and explore options for energy efficiency at Denver International Airport.
Enforce the use of green concrete in all public and private construction.
Create and expand recycling initiatives for multi-family, commercial and green waste in conjunction with the development of a comprehensive Sol-
id Waste Master Plan
Electricity Consumption
Incentivize energy conservation through a tiered rate structure.
Develop energy efficiency standards for new building and remodels and increase energy efficiency in existing homes.
Create incentives to plant shade trees and install in-home energy display systems.
Transportation
Allow travelers to pay a voluntary fee at the time of air travel or motor vehicle registration in order to offset the carbon emissions related to travel.
Promote transition over time to the use of alternative transportation sources.



Mayors Greenprint Denver Advisory Council, 2007
Future Directons
Impacts
Denver currently has a population of 634,265. Although per capita emissions have
remained the same, the significant population growth of the city over the last
decade has greatly increased overall emissions. The city of Denver hopes to miti-
gate and combat the impacts of climate change with a focus on alternative ener-
gy sources such as wind and solar power.

Global Warming will affect Denver in various ways:
Climate change will cause warmer summers and decreased winter snowpack
Tourism, an important factor in the economy, will suffer due to a limited ski
season and attraction availability.
Poor water quality will become a health risk.
The demand for both agricultural and municipal water will increase as water
supply decreased.
Forest fires will occur more frequently and there will be fewer resources to
fight them
Rapid melting of snow will cause sudden and destructive flooding

Primary Contributing Sectors
Electricity consumption, transportation and agriculture have been identified as ma-
jor contributing factors to current greenhouse gas emissions and areas to be im-
proved. In agriculture the main attempts at combating climate change include en-
couraging carbon sequestration through the establishment of a carbon credit mar-
ket. Revenues would also be provided to farmers that switch to best management
practices as a way to sequester carbon in soils and reduce emissions. The carbon
offset credits from farmers and ranchers could then be bought by the energy sector
in order to offset its own emissions. In order to reduce the impacts of transporta-
tion gas emissions standards would be put in place for passenger vehicles and an
increase in clean transportation options for state employees would be developed.
Goals
Goals set forth by the Colorado Climate Action Plan:
By 2020, reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions by 20% below 2005 levels
By 2050, reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions by 80% below 2005 levels

Goals set forth by the Denver Climate Action Plan:
By 2012, reduce Denvers per capita greenhouse gas emissions by 10 percent below
1990 levels, thereby reducing overall emissions by 1.8 million metric tons of CO2 annu-
ally.
By 2020, decrease total community-wide emissions to below 1990 levels, thereby re-
ducing emissions by 4.4 million metric tons of CO2 annually.

Prepared by Kimberly Tansey