Power Sector Opportunities for Reducing Carbon Dioxide Emissions: Colorado

This World Resources Institute fact sheet analyzes how Colorado can utilize existing policies and infrastructure to reduce power plant CO2 emissions by 2020, finding that a 29 percent reduction below 2011 levels is possible.

• WRI analysis indicates that Colorado has the potential to reduce its CO2 emissions by 29 percent below 2011 levels by 2020, which would meet or exceed moderately ambitious EPA power plant emissions standards. WRI's hypothetical scenarios suggest that EPA standards might require reductions between 28 and 37 percent below 2011 levels by 2020.
• Colorado can achieve CO2 reductions through existing policies: meeting renewable energy targets (requiring 30 percent for investor-owned utilities, 20 percent for large electric cooperatives, and 10 percent for smaller cooperatives and large municipalities) could reduce emissions by 7 percent below 2011 levels by 2020, and meeting energy efficiency standards could provide a further 5 percent reduction.
• Available infrastructure offers several CO2 reduction opportunities by 2020 relative to 2011 levels: running existing combined cycle (NGCC) natural gas plants at 75 percent capacity could reduce emissions by 15 percent; increasing combined heat and power (CHP) use by 30 percent could reduce emissions by 2 percent; and increasing coal plant efficiency by 2.5 percent could reduce emissions by 1 percent.
• To prepare for potentially more stringent EPA standards, Colorado could expand its energy efficiency standard to target annual energy savings of 2 percent per year across all utilities.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Power Sector Opportunities for Reducing Carbon Dioxide Emissions: Colorado. https://www.wri.org/research/power-sector-opportunities-reducing-carbon-dioxide-emissions-colorado

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Power Sector Opportunities for Reducing Carbon Dioxide Emissions: Colorado. n.d. https://www.wri.org/research/power-sector-opportunities-reducing-carbon-dioxide-emissions-colorado.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Power Sector Opportunities for Reducing Carbon Dioxide Emissions: Colorado |url=https://www.wri.org/research/power-sector-opportunities-reducing-carbon-dioxide-emissions-colorado |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendpower, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Power Sector Opportunities for Reducing Carbon Dioxide Emissions: Colorado}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://www.wri.org/research/power-sector-opportunities-reducing-carbon-dioxide-emissions-colorado}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }