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The document highlights how Colorado developers are adopting all-electric designs for affordable housing to reduce climate impact and operational costs. Through projects like Oxford Vista, Kestrel, and 30 Pearl Street, it shows that avoiding gas infrastructure can offset upfront costs and provide long-term savings in utilities and maintenance. These developments also improve indoor air quality and equity for low-income tenants while aligning with Colorado's state-level greenhouse gas reduction goals and city-level net-zero plans.

Colorado has established a first-of-its-kind legislative framework to manage the transition from a coal-based energy economy, creating a Just Transition Office and Advisory Committee to support workers and rural communities. The state's strategy includes 11 recommendations for worker retraining and community economic diversification, alongside a securitization mechanism (SB-236) to accelerate the closure of uneconomic coal plants. However, the initiative faces significant challenges, including a lack of clear funding, severe understaffing of the Just Transition Office, and a narrow focus that excludes the natural gas and petroleum sectors.

The report examines KKR's energy investment strategy from 2010 to 2020, highlighting a strong preference for fossil fuels over renewables. It details significant financial losses, including negative internal rates of return (IRR) for several funds and bankruptcies of assets like Longview Power and Samson Resources. Additionally, the document links KKR's investments to environmental and social harms, specifically citing Indigenous opposition to the Coastal GasLink Pipeline in Canada and the disproportionate impact of oil and gas operations on Latino and minority communities in Texas and New Mexico.

The document argues that the US shift away from coal has occurred without adequate planning, leaving workers and communities to face economic upheaval. It proposes a support package including wage replacement, educational benefits, and community infrastructure investments, estimating the cost between $33 billion and $83 billion. The brief identifies 462 'coal counties' and highlights the need for environmental remediation of mine and plant legacies to enable future economic diversification.

The document outlines eight benefits of building electrification in the United States, asserting it is the only established way to eliminate carbon pollution from residential and commercial heating and cooking. It highlights that all-electric homes are cheaper to build than mixed-fuel homes, improve indoor air quality—particularly for children and marginalized communities—and can create millions of jobs. The text dismisses alternatives like renewable natural gas (RNG), hydrogen, and synthetic methane as too costly or limited in scale, while noting that nearly 60 percent of new US homes are already built all-electric.

The CLEAN Future Act of 2021 proposes a national goal of a 100% clean economy by 2050, with an interim target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% by 2030 from 2005 levels. The legislation emphasizes 'climate federalism' by requiring states to develop emissions-reduction plans, and it integrates environmental justice through grants and increased air quality monitoring in burdened communities. Key sector-specific proposals include a Clean Electricity Standard requiring 100% zero-emissions power by 2035, over $100 billion for transportation electrification, and significant investments in building energy efficiency and industrial decarbonization. However, the document notes the bill lacks a national emissions cap for non-electricity sources and a mandate to phase out the sale of polluting vehicles.

The document argues that the US power sector faces a critical investment window between 2020 and 2030, with an estimated 420 GW of resource procurement needed. It advocates for a shift toward 'all-source', 'objective-aligned', and 'least-regrets' procurement practices to move away from legacy processes that reflect past conditions rather than emerging trends. The guide provides specific actionable recommendations for legislators, state commissions, and utilities to increase transparency, engage stakeholders, and better integrate distributed energy resources (DERs) into the planning and procurement cycle.

The briefing discusses the application of securitization in US states to mitigate the financial and social risks of coal plant retirements. By replacing high-cost utility capital with low-interest bonds, states like Wisconsin, Michigan, and New Mexico have reduced ratepayer costs and provided funding for clean energy and community transition. The document highlights Colorado's legislation as a model for integrating consumer protections, worker assistance, and renewable energy reinvestment.

The report argues that most non-light-water reactors (NLWRs) do not provide significant enough improvements over light-water reactors (LWRs) to justify their associated safety, security, and proliferation risks. It specifically evaluates sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFRs), high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs), and molten salt reactors (MSRs), finding that claims regarding 'burning' nuclear waste are oversimplified and that the timelines for commercialization are often unrealistic. The author recommends that the US Department of Energy (DOE) prioritize improving existing LWR technology over pursuing immature NLWR designs.

The policy brief advocates for a resolute US national strategy to accelerate electric vehicle (EV) adoption, proposing a target of 70 million EVs by 2030 and 100% new vehicle EV market share by 2035. It emphasizes that current fragmented efforts by states and private companies are insufficient to meet climate targets or compete with countries like China. The author recommends four key actions: establishing a national vision and government/industry commission, implementing an industrial strategy for manufacturing retooling, executing an aggressive public and private fleet electrification plan, and launching a nationwide education campaign.

The document highlights the environmental impact of natural gas flaring, particularly in the US, and outlines a seven-step framework for abatement including prohibiting routine flaring, increasing transparency, and implementing carbon pricing.

The briefing outlines a strategy for the U.S. federal government to support fossil fuel workers facing displacement due to the energy transition and the economic impact of COVID-19. It proposes three immediate federal interventions: employing workers to rehabilitate abandoned coal mines and plug orphan oil and gas wells, expanding funding for existing economic development programs like the POWER Initiative and the EDA ACC program, and utilizing innovative financial mechanisms such as securitization to lower costs for ratepayers and fund community support. For long-term stability, the author advocates for a comprehensive federal energy transition adjustment assistance program modeled after the Department of Labor's Trade Adjustment Assistance, providing retraining, relocation allowances, and wage insurance.

The author contends that the United States' limited genome sequencing efforts—sequencing only 0.3% of cases compared to 5-10% in the United Kingdom—have delayed the detection of the highly transmissible B.1.1.7 strain. The text advocates for integrating genome sequencing and metagenomic sequencing into a permanent disease early warning toolkit to protect against future mutations and bioweapons.

The document details a series of record-breaking climate events in 2020, including an unprecedented number of billion-dollar disasters in the US, extreme wildfires in California and Colorado, and devastating tropical cyclones in the Philippines and the Bay of Bengal. It highlights that 2020 was on pace to be the second-hottest year on record and notes the acceleration of Arctic sea ice retreat. Experts cited in the text emphasize that these events are driven by human-caused climate change and call for urgent climate action and funding for affected poor populations.

Jon Eagle Sr., the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, details the environmental and cultural harms caused by the Dakota Access Pipeline. He argues that the pipeline's continued operation, despite court rulings that its permits were illegal, constitutes a violation of treaties and a continuation of historical trauma against the Lakota people.

The document examines the decline of the U.S. coal industry, driven by cheaper natural gas and renewables, and the resulting workforce crisis. It argues that a successful transition requires more than just shifting to another single industry; it necessitates broad economic diversification. The brief outlines potential employment opportunities in clean energy, energy efficiency, environmental remediation (such as mine reclamation and forest restoration), broadband deployment, and entrepreneurship. It also reviews proposed federal frameworks, such as the National Economic Transition Office, and highlights regional initiatives in Appalachia and the West that support displaced workers through retraining and community-led development.

GreenLatinos links the tradition of Día de Los Muertos to the necessity of protecting ancestral lands and waters in Colorado. The organization specifically advocates for the Colorado Wilderness Act (CWA), which would protect over 500,000 acres across 36 areas, including Cross Canyon and Pisgah Mountain. These sites contain high densities of cultural artifacts and ancestral Puebloan and Ute Tribe history but currently lack complete inventories or archaeological surveys, leaving them vulnerable to degradation, vandalism, and theft.

The document examines the decline of the U.S. coal industry, driven by cheaper alternative energy and rising extraction costs, and the resulting workforce crisis. It evaluates various federal legislative proposals and existing programs aimed at economic diversification, such as the RECLAIM Act and EDA grants. The brief highlights opportunities for transition in renewable energy, energy efficiency, environmental restoration, broadband deployment, and entrepreneurship, emphasizing that a 'just transition' requires a holistic, community-driven approach rather than a simple shift from one single industry to another.

Earthjustice is challenging plans by Arch Coal to expand mining operations in the Sunset Roadless Area adjacent to the West Elk Wilderness. The case focuses on the illegality of roadbuilding exemptions under the 2012 Colorado Roadless Rule and the environmental impact of venting methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from the West Elk mine, which is identified as the largest industrial source of methane in Colorado.

The briefing describes a 'new abnormal' characterized by continuous climate escalation, citing extreme wildfires in Colorado and the US West, as well as hurricanes on the East and Gulf Coasts. It identifies five primary challenges: mass migration, health threats from air pollution and 'threat multipliers', financial instability due to asset loss and insurance costs, the need for resilient urban rebuilding, and the requirement to update the electric grid with localized resources and microgrids. The author calls for a 50 percent reduction in emissions by 2030 and net zero by 2050 to limit global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius.