John Hickenlooper’s Plan to Combat Climate Change and Build a 100% Clean Economy

John Hickenlooper believes climate change is the defining challenge of our time. Colorado is on the front lines of climate change, with shorter winters, catastrophic floods and wildfires, and continued air pollution. While Colorado is playing a leadership role in the face of the Trump Administration’s destructive attacks, we must do more. Our planet’s health, economic well-being, communities, and national security are all at risk. It is imperative that we urgently address the climate challenges we face — human lives and livelihoods are at stake.

John Hickenlooper is a geologist, and his plan is based in the best available science of today. Most importantly, his plan calls for a 100% renewable energy economy with net-zero emissions by 2050, with an interim goal of a 43 percent reduction below 2005 levels in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 — exactly where some of the world’s best scientists tell us we need to go.

From day one as Senator, John will fight to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord, enforce stricter standards on methane pollution and other harmful emissions, dramatically accelerate development of wind and solar energy, and reverse Donald Trump and Cory Gardner’s retrogressive and reckless policies.

John believes we need a bold, science-based approach to climate change which includes:

A job-creating clean energy plan for America. John supports an ambitious effort to move the United States to a clean energy future of net-zero emissions no later than 2050. Key proposals include:

• Making large-scale investment in government-funded climate technology research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) to accelerate innovation including investing in carbon capture, utilization, and storage technology; continued improvements in the development of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar; and in energy storage technologies.
• Revolutionizing America’s transportation system, including electric-vehicle charging infrastructure and making America’s electric grid more reliable, secure, efficient, and resilient. John supports raising fuel economy standards with the goal of moving to a 100% electric vehicle fleet. John also supports investing in improving the energy efficiency of buildings across the country by focusing on revising building standards and providing support to local governments and the private sector to meet the new standards.
• Developing our workforce with laser-like focus on training young people and people transitioning out of the fossil fuel industry into green jobs. We should bring together the business community, labor unions, and educational institutions to create apprenticeships and skills training programs that create pathways to good paying, stable jobs and careers.
• Creating a new Climate Corps Program, challenging young people to pursue careers that help combat global climate change. It would include a new set of scholarship and loan forgiveness programs to encourage a new generation of renewable energy experts, carbon capture specialists, energy storage scientists, and entrepreneurs who can help to address climate change and make America a global leader in climate technology.
• Implementing a carbon dividend plan, which experts agree is one critical component of the necessary market incentives to quickly and cost-effectively lower carbon emissions, while also promoting US economic growth. Revenue generated from a price on carbon would be returned directly to American taxpayers as a dividend, more than offsetting any potential increase in energy costs.
• Ensuring equity as we tackle climate change and that the vulnerable communities hardest hit by poor air quality, dirty water, toxic pollution, drought, rising sea levels, wildfires, and floods have a seat at the table to develop equitable climate strategies.

Global leadership toward even bolder climate change goals. John knows this is a global challenge — the US accounts for 15% of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions — and the only way to combat climate change is with immediate and sustained international cooperation and ambitious American leadership. He calls for going further than the Paris Climate Agreement goals and creating new linkages between global climate change goals and America’s foreign and trade policies.

• Rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement and making updates to the agreement that inspire and embolden the global community to take decisive action. We need a commitment to create climate financing for developing countries, a key commitment under the Paris Agreement and a direct contrast with the misguided policies of the Trump Administration, which reneged on American commitments to the world’s leading climate finance mobilization arm, the Green Climate Fund, and other key initiatives. Achieving the Paris targets will help a great deal, but we must commit ourselves to more. Even if all countries meet their targets, it will not hold the rise in global temperature to the “well below 2 degrees Celsius” goal set in the Paris Agreement.
• Ratifying the Kigali Amendment, which requires countries to freeze and then phase out dangerous hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).
• Requiring that greenhouse gas emissions goals to combat climate change are set and enforced as part of any new US trade agreement, as part of a new policy of “open and fair trade.” In order to bring the full weight of America’s global leadership to bear on this challenge, Hickenlooper will also condition certain US foreign aid and foreign military assistance on cooperation on climate change efforts by recipient countries.

John Hickenlooper’s Climate Record

As Denver’s Mayor and Colorado’s Governor, Hickenlooper brought people together to launch clean energy projects and enact pioneering climate change legislation. As a small business owner, he knows that being asked to decide between good jobs and a clean environment is a false choice. As a trained geologist, he brings a practical, fact-based understanding of earth science.

The Colorado Record:

• Developed First-In-The-Nation Methane Emissions Regulations. Hickenlooper brought industry groups and environmentalists together to make Colorado the first state to limit methane pollution from oil and gas wells. Colorado’s “gold standard” rules were estimated to cut the equivalent of 340,000 cars-worth of emissions and cut methane leaks by over half.
• Committed Colorado To The Paris Climate Agreement. Hickenlooper committed Colorado to the Paris Climate Agreement after President Trump withdrew, issuing an executive order to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 26 percent, maximize renewable energy use, and increase electric vehicle use.
• Fought Back Against Trump Emission Standards Rollback And Made Colorado An Electric Vehicle Leader. In 2018, Hickenlooper issued an executive order to adopt low-emission vehicle standards in response to the Trump Administration moving to roll back stricter fuel efficiency and vehicle emission standards. Hickenlooper also released an Electric Vehicle Plan and led a Western states compact to expand and invest in electric vehicle infrastructure.
• Made Protecting Public Lands A Priority And Grew Colorado’s Outdoor Economy. Hickenlooper opposed privatizing public lands, helped grow Colorado’s outdoor economy that supports 229,000 jobs and generates billions in economic activity by creating an Outdoor Recreation Industry Office and sided with local stakeholders against allowing oil and gas drilling in nearly 200,000 acres near the Thompson Divide.
• Oversaw Retirement Of Two Coal-Fired Power Plants And Moved Towards Renewable Energy. During the Hickenlooper Administration, the Colorado Public Utilities Commission approved Xcel Energy’s Colorado Energy Plan to retire two of its coal-fired power plants and replace their capacity with renewable energy and battery storage.
• Signed Landmark Rural Renewable Energy Standard Into Law. Hickenlooper signed legislation doubling renewable energy requirements for rural electric cooperatives.
• Expanded Transit in Denver. As Mayor of Denver, Hickenlooper brought together suburban mayors to create the region’s first light rail system, the largest such expansion in the nation.
• Jumpstarted The Planting Of A Million New Trees In And Around Denver. Hickenlooper launched an unprecedented regional initiative to plant a million trees across the Denver region over 20 years.
• Signed Kyoto Protocols. As Mayor, Hickenlooper signed the Kyoto Protocols in 2006 to reduce global warming.