City of Aspen Climate Action Plan

Overview

This City of Aspen's Climate Action Plan describes the Aspen city government's goals and ideas for reducing greenhouse gas emissions both attributable to government operations and from the community as a whole. The plan contains background information on climate change, results from the City's baseline greenhouse gas inventory and action steps to address greenhouse gases from various sectors. It also includes goals for renewable energy for the city's municipal utility, goals for community deployment of renewable energy systems and calls for increasing Colorado's renewable electricity standard and the renewable energy portfolio of the rural electric cooperative that also serves the City. Population Citation: http://www.city-data.com/city/Aspen-Colorado.html

Community Information
Name	Aspen, CO
Type	City
Population	6,089
Community Energy Goals	Reduce community wide greenhouse gas emissions 30 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050 below 2004 baseline.
Baseline	840,875 tons of CO2-e in 2004
Results to Date	According to greenhouse gas inventory done with 2007 data, greenhouse gas emissions were reduced by 68,380 tons CO2-e from baseline.

Highlights

This Climate Action Plan is a widely cited example of a community that was an early adopter for greenhouse gas reduction strategies and commitments. The reductions goals were set to comply with levels that the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) called for to avert climate catastrophe at the time the Plan was adopted by City Council. The Plan showcases actions that the City's municipal utility and other internal departments can take to affect community wide emissions. The report also outlines actions that can be taken by various sectors.

Environmental Aspects

The Climate Action Plan calls for greenhouse gas reductions of 30 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050 from its 2004 baseline. Performance metrics are quantified by tons of CO2-e reduced. Based on a 2007 update to the baseline emissions inventory, the community achieved emissions reductions of 68,380 tons. The energy and environmental achievements as of the Plan's adoption in 2007 are outlined as updates within the Plan. To date, there has been no progress report on the Climate Action Plan per se, however the City's environmental achievements are described in the biennial Sustainability Report available at: http://www.aspenpitkin.com/Portals/0/docs/City/GreenInitiatives/enviro_sustainability_report_2008.pdf

Related Tools

The Plan references Aspen's greenhouse gas emissions inventory, however the City did not use a publicly available tool to generate its inventory. The City also made a legally binding commitment to reduces its government operations by joining the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX), however as of the end of 2010, the CCX has stopped this program. The Plan calls for the creation of a "low carbon footprint" guideline for city events which has resulted in the Green events checklist and event report cards available at: http://aspenpitkin.com/Living-in-the-Valley/Green-Initiatives/Aspen-ZGreen/Events/. The Canary Initiative has also developed an energy tracker for business and citizens to track their energy use (http://aspenpitkin.com/Living-in-the-Valley/Green-Initiatives/Aspen-ZGreen/) and a carbon calculator and offset program for offsetting emissions (www.canarytags.com)