Over the past several sessions at the Colorado capitol, the state legislature has been active in addressing climate change policy by setting aggressive goals on state agencies, including higher education, and the business community to address cutting Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHGs) and Energy Use intensity (EUI) from facilities. CU Anschutz has been complying with these new protocols by placing all our facilities’ energy and GHG data into the EnergyStar Portfolio Manager. This allows us to track and monitor our data in real-time and more 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 from our GHG baseline:

• 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