Yesterday,
Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon, D-Denver, introduced SB-214, the
Colorado Climate Markets Act. By authorizing a set of studies to
explore the economic opportunities presented by global warming
solutions, the Colorado Climate Markets Act is a first step towards
action to reduce global warming pollution.
Senator
Gordon is excited about the economic opportunities than can come from
efforts to curb global warming pollution. "Climate change is occurring
at a rate that increasingly threatens our way of life, but actions to
cut global warming pollution can yield new jobs and even entirely new
industries for Colorado," said Gordon.
And
other supporters see it as a first response to a growing sense of
urgency surrounding global warming. “Global warming isn’t waiting
around and neither should we,” said Isaac Silverman of Environment
Colorado. “The Colorado Climate Markets Acts will point out easy ways
for Colorado to cut carbon pollution.”
The
Colorado Climate Markets Act authorizes a set of studies to determine
the potential of specific economic opportunities that also curb global
warming pollution. The three studies will profile companies that are
successfully reducing carbon pollution, analyze opportunities for
agricultural and terrestrial carbon sequestration, and study emerging
pollution credit exchanges both in the United States and abroad.
"Renewable
energy markets, pollution credit trading, and carbon sequestration are
among a growing array of economic opportunities relating to climate
change," Gordon said. "We have the chance to be at the forefront of
this trend, and the 'Climate Change Markets Act' will ensure that
Colorado’s tourism, agricultural, and energy industries have the
information they need to take advantage of these new economic and
environmental opportunities."
According
to the EPA, Ft. Collins has warmed by 4.1 degrees Fahrenheit over the
last hundred years. Scientists from the Rocky Mountain Climate
Organization agree that unless action is taken to reduce global warming
pollution, Colorado could heat up another 4-13 degrees over the next
century—enough to make Aspen as warm as Colorado Springs and devastate
Colorado’s tourism industry, which represents 13 percent of the economy.
“Action
follows information,” said Silverman of Environment Colorado. “And
while we have long advocated for common sense global warming solutions,
the Climate Markets Act will provide a trusted resource for Coloradan
farmers and businessmen looking to reduce their global warming
pollution and improve their bottom lines.”
