The agreement provides funding under the inflation reduction act (IRA) to the colorado energy office (CEO) to develop a comprehensive, economy-wide climate mitigation plan or update an existing plan…

The Colorado Energy Office (CEO) received a $3,000,000 Cooperative Agreement award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program (CFDA 66.046) to develop and update a comprehensive, economy-wide climate mitigation plan for the state of Colorado. Key activities include updating the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Reduction Roadmap, quantifying emissions and benefits for low-income and disadvantaged communities, and conducting extensive public engagement. The award will enable CEO to produce a Priority Climate Action Plan by March 2024 and a Comprehensive Climate Action Plan within two years, which will identify greenhouse gas and co-pollutant reductions, support coordination with local governments on climate action, and enhance monitoring capabilities to track benefits to disproportionately impacted communities and other environmental co-benefits. CEO plans to utilize sub-awards to other state agencies to support the development of these climate plans.

Description

The agreement provides funding under the inflation reduction act (IRA) to the colorado energy office (CEO) to develop a comprehensive, economy-wide climate mitigation plan or update an existing plan in collaboration with air pollution control districts, large and small municipalities statewide, and tribal governments that will support actions to reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) and harmful air pollutants and to conduct meaningful engagement with low-income and disadvantaged communities. Specifically, the grant will be used to update the greenhouse gas pollution reduction roadmap ('roadmap 2.0'), which will include an updated inventory of emissions and a new set of near-term actions that the state of colorado will implement to meet established emission reduction targets and a modeling process to ensure that the new near-term actions will meet the emission reduction targets. Updating the roadmap will be based on extensive stakeholder engagement, with a focus on feedback from representatives of disproportionately impacted communities.activities:in general, activities include the development, updating, and evaluation of plans to reduce climate pollution (i.e., to reduce GHG emissions and/or enhance carbon sinks). CEO will use the greenhouse gas pollution reduction roadmap as the basis document for both the priority climate action plan and the comprehensive climate action plan. Grant funding will also be used to update colorado's greenhouse gas emissions inventory which will be used to update the greenhouse gas pollution roadmap, climate action plans, and models used for projecting future GHG emissions. CEO, with the support of technical consultants and partners, will use the roadmap to quantify and identify the benefits of actions for low-income, disadvantaged communities and just transition communities and address workforce development needs. Public engagement efforts, which will be supported by a local non-profit organization, will be focused on collecting input from stakeholders in low-income, disadvantaged communities, tribal representatives, as well as stakeholders of rural and urban areas.subrecipient:CEO intends to award subgrants to other state agencies to support the development of plans.outcomes:three key deliverables will be produced and submitted over the course of the 4-year program period, including: a priority climate action plan (pcap), due march 1, 2024; a comprehensive climate action plan (ccap), due two years from the date of the award; and a status report, due at the close of the grant period. CEO will also create several interim deliverables, including: updates to colorado's greenhouse gas emissions inventories; updates to models used to quantify emission reductions associated with potential actions and their impact on meeting established emission reduction targets; preliminary benefits analysis for low-income and disadvantaged communities; a preliminary assessment of the authority of the state to implement the GHG reduction measures; a plan for priority climate actions to be completed by local governments; a climate workforce assessment and development strategy; and quarterly reports. Expected outcomes include a pcap and ccap that identifies: tons of pollution (ghgs and CO-pollutants) reduced over the lifetime of the measures; tons of pollution (ghgs and CO-pollutants) reduced annually; and tons of pollution (ghgs and CO-pollutants) reduced with respect to low-income and disadvantaged communities. Other expected outcomes include: enhancement of colorado's near-term actions to meet established emission reduction targets; improved coordination with state and local governments regarding climate action plans; and development of additional monitoring capabilities, including metrics tracking benefits to disproportionately impacted communities, the workforce, and other environmental CO-benefits from key actions. The intended beneficiaries include all colorado residents an