The Denver Regional Council of Governments' Building Policy Collaborative
What is the Building Policy Collaborative?
The Denver Regional Council of Governments in August 2024 received a $199.7 million grant focused at reducing climate pollution from the building sector. The grant work plan includes a $39 million policy component to support pollution reduction and healthy buildings by advancing consistent, coordinated, and ambitious high-performance building policy across the region. The Building Policy Collaborative will support the 58 jurisdictions over five years in the DRCOG planning area to implement new, above state minimum building energy codes and performance standards, equipment replacement standards, permitting reform, embodied carbon standards and professional licensure requirements. The collaborative provides local governments with capacity-building subawards and problem solving through peer-to-peer collaboration and research capacity. The collaborative will also ensure jurisdictions are full connected with the grant's rebates or incentives, advising, workforce development and community engagement offerings.
What will the Building Policy Collaborative fund?
- Building Policy Collaborative - $2.6 million contract for regional policy network facilitation and logistical support for zero-emissions and electric-forward policy.
- Jurisdictional Support- $34.8 million in sub-awards to DRCOG's member governments for staff capacity and resources to help local governments achieve pollution through implementing ambitious high-performance building policy, process improvements and achieving high compliance rates. Full list of eligible measures being co-created by the collaborative work group.
- Research and Development - $1 million budgeted for localized research to answer, cost, infrastructure and other technical questions being raised by member jurisdictions.
What are the grant's building policy goals and timeline for the grant period?
| Timeline | Description |
|---|---|
| End of 2024 | Workshops have identified priority implementation needs. |
| End of 2025 | Jurisdictions have co-developed a region wide roadmap towards zero emission buildings; individual jurisdictions have identified their policy priorities through 2030; first round of jurisdiction support funds awarded (continued periodically). |
| End of 2026 | Participating jurisdictions are implementing state Low Energy and Carbon Code. |
| End of 2027 | Communities representing 65% of regional population are implementing zero-emission building policy for new construction. |
| 2030 Goal | Entire region operates under zero or near zero emission building policy for new construction; communities representing 65% of the regional population are implementing enhanced appliance requirements upon replacement; communities representing 33% of regional population have advanced energy efficiency requirements for existing building 10,000 to 50,000 square feet. |
Why is it important to advance local high-performance building policies now?
Building policies are one of the primary tools local governments have to protect residents from pollution and energy cost burdens and to ensure safe and healthy indoor and outdoor environments for generations. Consistent building policies are easier for builders and equipment suppliers to follow. The Decarbonize DRCOG grant is time limited funding for jurisdictions to exceed the coming state minimums and meet sustainability goals together as a region. Most importantly, moving buildings toward electric equipment will prevent residents and businesses, including contractors, from being left behind in the transition to combustion-free technology.
For more information on the Building Policy Collaborative, contact Robert Spotts, rspotts@drcog.org.