GREEN GROWTH: FROM RELIGION TO REALITY - Sustainia

Chapter 51 IntroductionColorado’s move toward green growth policy is relativelynew. Colorado does not have the iterative history of multiple,mutually reinforcing phases of green growth seenin California. Rather, its movement toward green growthpolicy has developed recently through the relatively rapidcreation of a supportive coalition behind it. Colorado’sstory, which effectively begins around 2000, is a short butexciting one. So here, we analyze the Colorado case bylaying out the fascinating question of what has begun tohappen in Colorado, and why it has happened.Despite its vast reserves of fossil fuel,1 the state ofColorado has recently embarked on a surprising greengrowth path. In 2004, a grassroots advocacy movementin support of renewable energy put a renewable portfoliostandard (RPS) on the ballot. Despite oppositionfrom major stakeholders like the utility company Xcel,the measure passed by slightly more than fifty percent(Broehl 2004). In this citizen-led Amendment 37, Coloradopledged to increase the share of electricity generatedby major utilities2 from renewable sources3 to 10% byyear 2015. Colorado has met this goal ahead of schedule,and has since raised the standard twice, to 30% renewableenergy4 by 2020. Among US states, this is second onlyto the 33% renewable energy by 2020 goal in Californiapassed in 2011 (Minard 2010).The government of Colorado has subsequently unveileda series of other progressive environmental legislationsenabling the transition to a low-carbon economy.The latest Clean Air Clean Jobs Act, which led to the earlyretirement of two urban coal plants that will be closed orrefueled to natural gas, is an example of such progressivelegislation (2010). Colorado's green industries have beenbooming in the past few years; the state has attracted globalgreen technology leaders like the wind turbine makerVestas, who already has 1,600 workers in the state andexpect to reach 2,200 (Ritter 2010).Colorado seems to be turning its fossil fuel-basedeconomy toward a path of slow but steady emissionsreduction, while growing green industries and creatingjobs. Although the full economic effects of legislationslike the RPS or the Clean Air Clean Jobs Act arenot yet clear, one can still conclude that the governmentof Colorado is trying to drive employment and economicgrowth through emissions reduction measures.Of course, this green growth strategy is a very recentdevelopment. Before Amd 37 passed, Colorado's legislaturerejected RPS bills four times; but in the six yearssince Amd 37, Colorado has embraced emissions reduction.Understanding the reasons behind this turnaboutis not only important for ensuring a low-carbon futurein Colorado, but may also hold answers for other states.2 Colorado timelineTimelinePrior to 2004: Multiple attempts to pass clean energyand RPS legislation through Colorado’s RepublicancontrolledGeneral Assembly; all are defeated in eitherthe state House or Senate, and would likely have beenvetoed by then-Governor Owens if not.2004: Amd 37, a citizen ballot measure calling for renewableenergy standards as well as several relatedmeasures, passes in the general election. This sameelection gives Democrats a majority in both the stateHouse and Senate.2004 – 2006: Attempts at additional green legislationare passed but vetoed by Governor Owens.2006: Governor Bill Ritter is elected after making greenenergy a primary issue in his campaign.2007 – 2010: Colorado passes over 50 pieces of legislationintended to advance the “New Energy Economy.” InMarch 2007, the legislature increases the RPS to 20%by 2020.2010: The legislature increases the RPS again to 30%by 2020.2011: Shrinking federal funding and cuts to state fundingbegin to create future challenges for green policy.3 Explaining Colorado's green growthThe critical questions in the Colorado story are: First,what allowed Colorado to pass a citizen-supportedmeasure like Amd 37 – making it the first US state todo so, and a particularly startling achievement giventhat similar legislation had repeatedly died in the state’sGeneral Assembly? And second, once Amd 37 passed,what drove Colorado on the relatively fast track of greenpolicy that it has seen, from a 10% RPS to 20% to 30%,with accompanying growth in installed energy base andlocal green business? Below, we argue that the answerlies in a combination of 1) a public advocacy programthat successfully showed several very different constituenciesin Colorado how clean energy could meet theirdifferent needs, thus building support among severalcommunities; 2) a fertile environment provided by localcenters of research and business innovation in cleantech;3) coincidental funding assistance from the federal government,and 4) immediate reinforcement generated byearly successes.1 Colorado has 8% of Americandry natural gas reserves, androughly one third of US coal-bedmethane reserves, as well as oilshalereserves equivalent to theworld’s proven oil reserves, thoughit is currently uneconomic to exploit(Burnell, Carroll and Young2008).2 Those serving more than 40,000customers.3 In Amendment 37, renewableenergy was defined as wind, solar,geothermal, biomass, hydrogenfuel cells, and small hydro power.4 The latest RPS legislation addsrecycled energy, which is powergenerated from waste heat of industrialplans, as a renewable energyon top of those defined in Amendment37.62