Senator Gordon Introduces Bill To Study Profitable Solutions To Global Warming

Environment Colorado

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.”