Equitable & Effective Climate Change Mitigation: Policy Analysis in the City and County of Denver, Colorado

Every level of the United States government is currently working to address the intersection of climate change and equity priorities, with no perfect solution for balancing these key needs. Given this context, this paper argues that Denver has the opportunity to further establish itself as a leader in this space by integrating climate and justice efforts through a concrete, actionable approach that merges key quantitative and qualitative analyses. Through this approach, it becomes clear that tradeoffs need to be made using a consistent methodology that is flexible enough to handle diverse programs and policy types and transparent enough to help build community trust in programs. The result of a year-long collaboration with Denver's Office of Climate Action, Sustainability & Resiliency, this paper puts forward a consistent, formalized process that the city can use to evaluate potential programs and thoughtfully allocate new funding.