C2ES

Abstract

Colorado is at the frontlines of climate change impacts, including growing wildfire and heat hazards. The Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) launched the first regional Climate Resilient Communities Accelerator (Accelerator) in 2023 to support communities and businesses that operate in the North Front Range of Colorado prepare for these impacts.

Through the Accelerator’s 2023 convenings, a diverse set of leaders identified and explored seven Key Action Areas to advance the North Front Range’s resilience to wildfire and heat. These areas cover a range of crucial resilience components and can serve as a roadmap moving forward.

• improve air quality and protect public health through built environment interventions
• deploy proactive wildfire hazard mitigation measures in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI)
• invest in microgrids and community resilience hubs
• reduce urban heat islands with trees and nature-based solutions
• align workforce development programs for a climate-resilient economy
• build a resilience community of practice
• prepare businesses for climate impacts

The 2023 Accelerator convenings—a Climate Resilient Economies Roundtable in October and a Resources Connector Forum in November—connected communities and businesses to each other and helped expand the pool of potential partners, including economic development groups, community-based organizations, nonprofits, and state and federal agencies. The discussions were designed to augment local resilience efforts by uncovering strategies that can reduce the impacts of more than one climate hazard and will require action from a broad range of actors to succeed.

This brief captures discussions from 2023 convenings, including the stakeholder engagement process, current and projected wildfire and heat impacts, the shared regional vision for a prosperous future, key action areas for resilience, and opportunities and resources to accelerate resilience action.

C2ES launched the 2023 Accelerator in partnership with the Colorado State University (CSU) Climate Adaptation Partnership and with the generous support of the Bank of America Charitable Foundation.