Preview (opens in a new tab)Colorado has a goal for 2030 of reducing carbon emissions from its economy by 50%. Can it hit that mark?
Yes, probably, says a team of analysts from the Rocky Mountain Institute. But much depends upon how state agencies implement laws and policies adopted by state legislators.
“Having laws on the books that could put the state’s 2030 goals within reach is an important achievement to celebrate, but it is not the finish line,” said the RMI researchers in a blog post on Nov. 15.
Their report, “Colorado’s Role as Climate Leader Hinges on its Next Steps,” explains that components of recent legislation already in effect will drive down total emissions by roughly 10% by 2030 as compared to business as usual.
These concrete accomplishments will be achieved primarily in the way that electricity is generated and in the energy consumption by buildings.
Legislation alone, however, is often not sufficient, says Lainie Rowland and her co-authors, Kyle Clark-Sutton, and Olivia Ashmoore. They point to the importance of new or updated rules adopted by state agencies in closing most of the remaining gap of the 2030 goal.
“These reductions are far from guaranteed—they will require significant investment, strong rules, robust enforcement and transparent evaluation,” they warn.
This can get tedious, as was evident in a three-hour session conducted by Megan Gilman, a member of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, on Dec. 2. The task was to begin shaping the rules governing greenhouse gas accounting for emissions from the natural gas sector. Colorado’s four gas-distribution utilities all had sat in on the video conference, as did Josh Korth, from the Air Quality Control Division, and representatives of Western Resource Advocates, Natural Resources Defense Council, and other groups.
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This won’t be the last such meeting. Much remains to be decided about the greenhouse gas accounting having to do with the natural gas sector.
In a sense, Colorado’s aggressive decarbonization journey began with the law adopted in 2019 that established the 50% carbon reduction goal for 2030 and an even more ambitious goal for 2040.
Other laws passed in the 2019 session and then a few more in the covid-crimped 2020 session added legs to that ambition.
Then came 2021, with more than 30 bills passed into law that in various ways seek to deliver the tools necessary to achieve the carbon reductions.
“The legislation included policies to ramp up renewable energy deployment, electrify the transportation sector, drive down emissions from buildings, and stop methane pollution at the source,” the RMI team writes.
“Now it is critical that regulators take steps that enable these policies to achieve their intended goals.”
RMI cited the oil-and-gas sector as a “prime example of the importance of policy implementation for driving emissions reductions.” The Air Quality Control Commission in December will consider rules focused on driving down methane emissions. These rules will be crucial to Colorado getting on track toward its 2030 climate goals.
Work in oil-and-gas, transportation,
and other sectors may bring Colorado very close to being on track, but additional policy will be needed, the RMI team says.
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