Colorado Gives Day, PUC and AQCC Updates, B Corp Certification, and Loads More!
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Support
Clean
Energy
Action
on
COLORADO GIVES DAY!
Colorado Gives Day
is Dec. 10th, 2019. It is an annual statewide movement to celebrate and increase philanthropy in Colorado through online giving. By donating on
Colorado Gives Day
, you can help us spend less time on fundraising, and more time on reducing our reliance on fossil fuels!
Clean Energy Action
is a grassroots, citizen-powered, nonprofit organization that makes changes on the policy level for a clean and green energy economy.
CEA
has been instrumental in closing coal plants in Colorado and opening doors for clean and green renewable energy.
A gift to
CEA
on
Colorado Gives Day
of $10, $100, or any amount will have an impact.
Click
here
to go directly to our donation page on the Colorado Gives Day website, or go to
www.cleanenergyaction.org
and click on the donate button. Once there, you will be able to choose to have your donation processed either immediately or on Colorado Gives Day. You can also send a check the old fashioned way to:
Clean Energy Action PO Box 1399 Boulder CO 80306
Thank you
for joining us and helping to mobilize an equitable, clean energy and sustainable future for all!
Sincerely,
CEA Board, Staff, Volunteers and Interns
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Help Us Perform a Study with Your EV Charging Data
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If you have an electric vehicle and collect charging data, we would like your help with a study. We are collecting data on when electric vehicles are being charged and for how long so that we can model what will happen to the grid once more EVs are on the road. If you would like to support this effort, please send an email to board member Nate Sloat at
Nate.Sloat@gmail.com
. If you don't collect charging data, you can still help out by letting us know how many miles you drive and when you typically plug in your car.
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CEA Opposing Fossil Fuel Generation and Expenditures by Xcel
During October, Clean Energy Action ran several trainings for citizens who wanted to understand the relationship between the rate increase and emissions of carbon dioxide and methane. While Xcel has stated their intention to further reduce their carbon emissions, Xcel’s most recent request for another rate increase includes hundreds of millions of dollars being spent on fossil fuel generation. On November 6, 2019, about thirty citizens, including several Clean Energy Action board members, testified at the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) public hearing on Xcel’s rate increase and made it clear that Xcel should be moving more quickly given the availability of thousands of MW of low-cost wind, solar and storage projects in Colorado.
A recent
Denver Post article
underscores the opposition to Xcel’s request for additional rate revenue from citizens as well as the formal participants in the PUC hearing.
More information on Xcel’s requested rate increase is available in the
Answer Testimony
of CEA board member Leslie Glustrom in the Xcel Rate Increase Proceeding 19AL-0268E.
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Air Quality Control Commission (AQCC) Update
When the Colorado State Legislature passed HB 19-1261 this spring, Colorado joined
23 states and Washington DC
by adopting mandatory
greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets
through 2050. With the passage of this historic bill, the Air Quality Control Commission of
CDPHE
was tasked with deriving more specific rules and regulations from the broad regulatory goals expressed in the statutory language of the bill.
At 9:00 am on Thursday, November 21st
, the Air Quality Control Commission will kick- off a discussion of how our state will achieve its new climate goals. At the meeting, representatives from the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment, the Office of the Governor and the Colorado Energy office will present on the “development, scope, and timing of a Greenhouse Gas Roadmap” to achieve the “swift adoption of renewable energy and emissions reductions” across Colorado’s economy. Additionally, representatives from the Air Pollution Control Division will give a progress report on the implementation of
SB 19-096
, a bill that sets more stringent requirements for the state of Colorado to measure and report greenhouse gas emissions. See the full meeting agenda
here.
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PERA's Fossil Fuel Investments Lose Money
Colorado’s Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA), which manages the pensions of half a million current and former state employees, lost $1.77 billion in returns by not divesting from fossil fuel stocks ten years ago, according to new analyses performed by media and analysis firm Corporate Knights. That works out to an opportunity cost of over $2,900 per PERA member.
The Corporate Knights report found that large fossil fuel companies pulled down overall performance – while technology, healthcare, retail and entertainment boosted performance. The better performance of fossil free investment strategies in recent years is due primarily to an
accelerating energy transition, happening faster than investors expected.
In September of this year, the global movement to divest from fossil fuel companies and invest in climate solutions announced a major milestone, as the total managed assets pledged for divestment have leapt from $52 billion in 2014 to
more than $11.5 trillion today
— a stunning increase of 22,000 percent. Over 1,110 institutions have now committed to policies black-listing some combination of coal, oil and gas investments. These include sovereign wealth funds, banks, global asset managers and insurance companies, cities, pension funds, health care organizations, universities, faith groups, foundations, and the country of Ireland's entire sovereign fund.
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What is B Corp Certification?
Colorado is the home of almost 100 Certified B Corporations, representing diverse industries throughout the state.
Boulder has the most B Corporations per capita in the world, at 42 and counting
. So, what is B Corp Certification?
B Corporations are for-profit companies that meet high, verified standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability. The certifying nonprofit,
B Lab
, has certified over 3,000 companies across 70 countries and 150 industries since its founding in 2006. The founders of B Lab believe that it is
no longer tenable for businesses to prioritize profits above all else
and that the wellbeing of a company’s stakeholders, not just its shareholders, should be factored into its success metrics. To that end, they created a framework to be used by
socially responsible businesses
to credibly demonstrate their performance, facilitate continual improvement and hold themselves legally accountable to their ideals.
To become a B Corporation, a company must attain a minimum score on the B Impact Assessment, which measures how well it supports its employees, gives back to its community, engages with its supply chain, and
protects the environment
. It must also meet a legal requirement to maintain the long-term viability of its mission and ensure its right to prioritize stakeholder wellbeing over shareholder profit. This requirement can be met in a variety of ways, determined by the existing structure of the company, that include a commitment to accountability and transparency through regular self-reporting and/or external audits and a requirement to consider all stakeholders in decision-making. Every three years, companies must re-certify. With each recertification, the assessment becomes more rigorous, which ensures companies are always improving and strengthening their social and environmental programming.
As the B Corp certification becomes more salient, it will continue to give Colorado businesses more traction to attract both socially-conscious employees and consumers, as well as meaningful business-to-business partnerships. Diverse industries represented in the B Corp community in Colorado, e.g. Namaste Solar, Zen for Business, Upslope Brewing Company, and Colorado Impact Fund, provide myriad opportunities for consumer engagement, business collaboration and innovation.
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COGCC UPDATE
A
new health study
came out from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment showing significant short-term impacts from fracking emissions up to 2000 feet from wells. This has triggered the COGCC to automatically review and delay any permits that are 2000 feet or less from homes and schools, an increase from the prior policy of 1500 feet. This new development could reduce the rate of permits being approved, currently at around 60%. Note that the study's scope was fairly narrow as it does not include long-term effects, cumulative impacts, or effects farther than 2000 feet.
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Clean Energy Could Be Colorado's Cheapest Option
A recent
story by Vox
illustrated the potential for both a decarbonized electricity grid and increased savings for Colorado rate payers. Drawing on research conducted by
Vibrant Clean Energy
, the story shows that highly granular models predict that the ample solar capacity in Colorado, coupled with wind generation, can produce the cheapest scenario for Colorado's energy future, while simultaneously being the greenest
.
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Microgrid Summit Recap
The first Colorado Microgrid Summit put on by Clean Energy Action and the Independence Institute on November 8 was a great success. Over 50 attendees came together to learn from a dozen presenters about the state of microgrid development around the world, in the U.S., and in Colorado. Talks ranged from "What is a Microgrid" by Peter Lilienthal of Homer Energy to the current energy legislation climate in Colorado by state representative Edie Hooten and state senator John Cooke.
The goal of the summit was to lay the groundwork for future collaboration on microgrid development and legislation in Colorado. The level of expertise and engagement in the room showed that we do, indeed, have the skills and motivation to advance microgrids in the state.
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Photo credit: Jonathan Rogers
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