About ClimateSmart™

ClimateSmart is a joint City of Boulder and Boulder County campaign designed to:

ClimateSmart programs provide education, financial incentives and services not available elsewhere to help people make energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements to their homes and commercial buildings. ClimateSmart also promotes transportation alternatives to driving and the switch to low-emission vehicles and alternative fuels.

The City of Boulder, Boulder County and Longmont collaborate on the ClimateSmart effort. Nine staff members in the city's Department of Community Planning and Sustainability Local Environmental Action Division are dedicated to city programs, the city's Regional Sustainability Coordinator focuses on regional and national issues, and Boulder County's Sustainability Initative employs five staff members whose efforts span the entire county. The other municipalities in Boulder County participate in ClimateSmart through the Consortium of Cities.

Background

City of Boulder: In 2002, the Boulder City Council passed a resolution committing the city to achieving the greenhouse gas reduction target established by the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement adopted in 1997 to combat global climate change. The goal is to reduce greenhouse gases to seven percent below 1990 levels by 2012. In 2006 the Climate Action Plan (CAP) was created as a roadmap for helping the Boulder community achieve this goal, and voters passed a tax on household and business electricity use to fund implementation of the plan. This "carbon tax," known as the CAP tax, garnered global recognition for Boulder as the first city to tax itself to directly address climate change. In 2009, the Climate Action Plan was updated as the Community Guide to Boulder's Climate Action Plan. All CAP programs fall under the ClimateSmart umbrella.

Boulder County established environmental sustainability goals in 2005 that include energy and greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets. The county's efforts to support these goals are funded through an earmarked portion of property tax revenues. The county adopted the Sustainable Energy Plan in 2008, which recommends 35 actions for local governments and others in Boulder County to take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make our communities sustainable.