Colorado Unveils Climate Action Plan

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November 7, 2007

Under a climate action plan unveiled by Gov. Bill Ritter, Colorado will reduce greenhouse gas emissions 20 percent below 2005 levels in the next 13 years, The Rocky Mountain News reports.

The goal means C02 emissions would reach 92.9 million metric tons by 2020, down 37 percent from what would be produced if the state did nothing, according to the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization.

The Climate Action Plan calls for dramatically reducing electricity use, slashing the miles commuters drive to work, beefing up energy codes for new buildings and requiring that large emitters of CO2 begin phased-in mandatory reporting of their emissions.

The plan doesn’t mandate tough clean-air standards for cars, but it does direct the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission to begin examining use of such standards.

Ritter did not expand the state’s renewable energy portfolio standard, which was doubled last year and requires utilities to derive 10 percent of their power from such sources as the wind and the sun by 2015, and to derive 20 percent from renewable sources by 2020.