Colorado Passes Bill Aiming for 90 Percent Emissions Reduction by 2050

The Colorado legislature approved a measure on May 1, setting a goal of achieving emission cuts of 26 percent by 2025, 50 percent by 2030, and 90 percent by 2050, relative to 2005 levels.

The bill requires state regulators to establish implementation rules that may be revised as necessary to ensure timely progress toward the goals. In addition to renewable development, the rules may include regulatory strategies that have been adopted by other jurisdictions to cut multi-sector emissions and facilitate zero-emission technologies.

The state has enacted several measures in recent months to support clean energy. The legislature approved a bill on April 24 to set a 10-megawatt maximum size requirement for community solar gardens, up from the current level of 2 megawatts. In January, Democratic Governor Jared Polis issued an executive order detailing initiatives and strategies aimed at facilitating a transition to electric vehicles, in a bid to support a goal of 100 percent renewable electricity by 2040. In December 2018, the state adopted rules for incorporating storage procurement into utility planning processes. Regulators also approved Xcel Energy Inc., the state’s largest utility, to advance an ambitious renewable energy plan that calls for more than 2 gigawatts of solar, wind, and battery storage.

The state’s renewable energy goal calls for investor-owned utilities to source 30 percent of energy supplies from renewables by 2020, with 3 percent of their retail sales coming from distributed generation by 2020.