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Jarrett Smith
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The Climate Action Plan (CAP) serves as an expansive blueprint for campus sustainability efforts. Building on the EMP’s strategies for energy conservation, the CAP addresses Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions reduction, water use, waste diversion, climate change education, campus policies, and sustainability in research practices.
The Climate Action Plan (CAP) was developed with input from the campus community via town halls and with input from specific campus experts via stakeholder meetings.
The first townhall was held in September 2024, which kicked off the process of developing goals and initiatives for the CAP. It was followed by 2 more town halls where anyone from the campus and surrounding community could attend.
Three stakeholder meetings were held to capture data and expert opinion from specific teams on campus, including members from our facilities, community and access, finance, research departments, etc.
The final plan was published in August 2025.
The Colorado state legislature passed climate change policy which sets aggressive goals for state agencies, including higher education, and the business community to address greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) and energy use intensity (EUI) reduction. CU Anschutz complies with these protocols by placing our facilities’ energy and GHG data into the EnergyStar Portfolio Manager. This allows us to track and monitor our data in real-time and effectively plan for projects that will assist in meeting goals.
The latest GHG reduction goals come from SB23-016 which calls for the following reductions:
- 26% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2025
- 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030
- 65% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2035
- 75% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2040
- 90% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2045
- 100% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050
Energy use intensity, or energy used per square foot, reduction goals were established by HB21-1286 and require the following reductions from a 2021 baseline:
- 7% reduction in average EUI by 2026
- 20% reduction in average EUI by 2030
The CU System has also developed sustainability and climate action goals as part of the CU System Strategic Plan created in 2020. This plan has differing goals for each CU campus to meet by 2026 and includes its own GHG and EUI reduction goals. These goals are a 15% reduction in GHG emissions (2019 baseline) and a 10% reduction in energy use intensity (2019 baseline).
Other strategic goals include a commitment to 5% on-site renewable energy generation, transition 20% of fleet vehicles to electric, as well as the development of an Energy Master Plan and Climate Action Plan.