EPA Climate Pollution Reduction Grants

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Climate Pollution Reduction Grants (CPRG) program is providing a total of $5 billion in grants to states, local governments, tribes, and territories to develop and implement ambitious plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other harmful air pollution. Authorized by the Inflation Reduction Act, this two-phase program offers both noncompetitive planning grants and competitive implementation grants.

The Colorado Energy Office (CEO) received a CPRG planning grant in July of 2023. The CPRG planning grant requires that grantees develop a Priority Climate Action Plan (PCAP); a Comprehensive Climate Action Plan (CCAP) due in 2025; and a Status Report due at the end of the award period in 2027. After a series of stakeholder meetings with local governments, state agencies, and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, CEO submitted its PCAP on March 1, 2024. The update to the state Greenhouse Gas Pollution Reduction Roadmap also informed the state’s PCAP. 

Colorado’s PCAP spans the entire state and is organized by state, local government, and Ute Mountain Ute priority measures to reduce greenhouse gas and other pollution, including both policy changes and incentives. The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe determined priority measures specific to its community needs and has authority to implement measures as a sovereign entity.

For questions, comments, or more information on local government measures and engagement, please contact Christine Berg, christine.berg@state.co.us.

To apply for CPRG Phase 2: Implementation funding, EPA required that proposed measures be listed in the PCAP.

EPA awarded CEO a $129 million implementation grant in July 2024 to support implementation of the following emissions reduction measures:

• Methane Emissions Monitoring and Reduction: Will create a methane emissions detection and response program, support methane emissions reduction pilot projects, and identify regulatory mechanisms to further reduce methane emissions from landfills and coal mines.
• Large Building Decarbonization: Will offer subawards to fund projects for buildings covered by the state Benchmarking and Building Performance standards program that reduce emissions before or beyond regulatory requirements.
• Local Government Climate Action Accelerator: Will offer subawards to local governments for measures that have significant GHG emissions reduction potential and are best-suited for local government implementation. Subawards will provide funding for technical assistance to support policy adoption, as well as equity-focused incentive funding for project implementation.

CEO will provide more information about opportunities for potential subgrantees and other stakeholders to get involved as program planning continues.