The Denver Office of Climate Action, Sustainability, and Resiliency, otherwise known as CASR (implemented two years ago on July 1, 2020), released its 2021 annual report, including the first-year investments of the Climate Protection Fund (CPF). The CASR is dedicated to combatting climate change by eliminating greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution while also supporting climate adaptation focused on the communities most affected.
“On the eve of CASR’s second anniversary, our city remains steadfast in our commitment to climate action, the policies and programs that will support it, and the transformative investments that are already beginning to make a difference to build resiliency for our residents and neighborhoods,” Mayor Michael B. Hancock states. “I urge cities and leaders across the nation to join us in taking strong action on climate change to protect our future and our children’s future.”
Denver has experienced longer and more frequent droughts, worsening air quality, hotter temperatures, depleting natural resources, and a plethora of other concerning hazards due to the ongoing global climate crisis.
“Denver voters made it clear when they approved the creation of the Climate Protection Fund that the time for action is now. The climate crisis has been knocking on our door, and we must answer the call,” Hancock says. “Your Climate Protection Fund provides approximately $40 million each year, dedicated to thoughtful investments that will reduce our collective greenhouse gas emissions, help us adapt to climate impacts, build resiliency in our communities, and—of utmost importance—prioritize our most climate-vulnerable neighbors.”
The Climate Protection Fund provides support and resources in six different areas: workforce development, renewable energy, buildings and homes, sustainable transportation, adaptation and resilience, and environmental justice. Future agency goals portray a brighter and healthier future for Denver, including a 100% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 and a 50% waste diversion from landfills by 2027.
Programs already implemented show Denver working to adapt and foster resiliency toward climate change and its effects. Giving homeowners a discount on solar installation through group purchasing, the Denver Solar Co-Op administered by Solar United Neighbors of Colorado provides support to those wishing to go solar in addition to rebates to income-qualified households.
Other new programs such as the Community Tree Planting program plan to plant more than 2,100 trees over the next three years in the most climate-vulnerable neighborhoods to curb the declining air quality. The Sustainable Transportation program committed 2.1 million in 2021 to projects that reduced driving, cut emissions, improved mobility, and saved money, directing 100% of funding toward under-resourced communities, another example of progress.
More than half of the Climate Protection Fund’s first-year investments were put directly toward benefiting Denver’s most climate-vulnerable residents, exceeding the 50% mandate. Current resources available to residents in climate-vulnerable areas include access to free e-bike libraries for essential workers in the Westwood, Elyria, Swansea, and Globeville neighborhoods, paid workforce training programs, and rebates that cover up to 100% of the cost for e-bikes and e-cargo bikes to replace car tips and lower emission.
