Colorado to miss emissions-cutting goal: analysis

Colorado will miss state targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions unless it takes further action to reduce the use of fossil fuels, an analysis found.

The nonprofit firm Energy Innovation said in a study released Friday that Colorado’s current efforts to limit greenhouse gases are “insufficient” to reach state targets passed into law in 2019.

“Colorado has outlined ambitious decarbonization goals, but careful planning and execution is critical for a rapid transition to help limit the worst effects of climate change,” read the report.

Emissions in the state are expected to drop by less than 4 percent by 2030, and by roughly 18 percent by 2050, according to the report. The 2019 law set emission reduction targets for those two years at 50 percent and 90 percent.

The news of Colorado’s expected failure to cut carbon emissions to a meaningful degree comes as the state is considering a bill that would codify some emissions limits into law while also expanding the powers of the state’s Air Quality Control Commission. Gov. Jared Polis (D) has signaled opposition to some parts of the bill, giving it an uncertain future.

The state is already one of more than a dozen that have adopted higher vehicle emissions standards, following California, in a move that countered the rollback the 2020 rollback of federal emissions standards by the Trump administration.