Colorado Local Climate Action Leaders (LOCAL) Forum

Welcome to the Colorado Local Climate Action Leaders (LOCAL) Forum!

The Colorado LOCAL Forum creates interactive opportunities for climate-forward local elected officials and staff to engage in dialogue on how to lead with local policies, funding, and advocacy to address climate change on transportation, land use, and air quality related topics.

Virtual Brown Bag Sessions are offered the second Friday of each month from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. These are interactive opportunities to learn more from content experts and to exchange ideas and best practices with your peers so you can lead locally with climate-forward actions.

Colorado LOCAL Forum is hosted by

Upcoming sessions

August: GHG Rule Update with CDOT Director Shoshana Lew & Rebecca White

Friday, August 12th, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. via Zoom. Register for this Zoom session here.

Since CDOT adopted the game-changing GHG Rule in December 2021, it’s been a statewide hustle to develop the math and the modeling in order to revise long term transportation plans to meet the 2050 GHG reduction requirements. October 1 is the deadline for CDOT, DRCOG, and NFRMPO to adopt compliant transportation plans. Join CDOT Director Shoshana Lew and CDOT Transportation Development Director Rebecca White to learn what this means for local communities and what opportunities are ahead to prioritize clean, sustainable transportation. As always, there will be time to ask questions, exchange best practices, and identify key actions you can take as a local climate leader.

Past sessions

July: Connecting the Dots to Make the Case
CANCELED
Join us for a roundtable discussion on how to make connections between staff and elected officials in order to advance climate forward policies and programs. We’ve heard from several participants that data and program information is helpful but it’s hard to take action without better cooperation and coordination. So let’s build our toolkit! Bring your best examples, big ideas, and thought-provoking questions.

June: Charging Up: How to Maximize Local Electrification Programs
This month, Kelly Blynn from the Colorado Energy Office will brief us on the state’s electrification strategy and what recent legislation means for local transportation electrification efforts. As the CEO’s Transportation Climate Change Specialist, Kelly is a terrific resource for current and upcoming programs so you can start working on taking action for funding and policy support. Matt Lerman with Drive Clean Colorado will also join us to share resources available to local governments through the state’s ReCharge program. As always, we’ll leave time for discussion, Q&A, and exchanging best practices.

May: Smart Land Use Strategies
When communities use smart land use to encourage infill development and locate housing closer to jobs, transit, grocery stores, schools, and other destinations, they create more walkable, healthy, and transit-oriented communities, and in the process, reduce VMT and GHG pollution. Learn from your peers and land policy experts how you can take local action to advance local sustainable land use policies. There will be lots of time to ask questions, exchange best practices, and identify key actions you can take as a local climate leader.

April: Taking Local Action to Tackle Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Transportation
Transportation is the biggest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in Colorado. 2022 is THE year to take action to ensure transportation dollars invested in your region are working to address climate change by directing funding, including the new federal funds, to projects that meet Colorado’s Greenhouse Gas reduction requirements. Join other front range elected officials and staff to learn about Colorado’s new Greenhouse Gas Rule and what you can do right now to make sure Colorado leads the nation in tackling greenhouse gas emissions. There will be plenty of time for discussion so bring your questions and big ideas.