Denver's Climate Policies

Addressing climate change demands rapid, systemic transformation in how we power our homes, move through our neighborhoods, and manage our natural resources. Individual choices - like biking, conserving energy, and reducing waste - are vital pieces of the puzzle. But achieving our ambitious city climate targets requires a collective, structural approach.

That approach is shaped by city policy.

We use local policies to bridge the gap between high-level environmental aspirations and concrete, everyday realities. Voluntary measures alone cannot scale fast enough to meet the urgency of the climate crisis. By establishing clear regulations and standards, city policies create the foundational "rules of the game" that drive meaningful change across our entire community:

Driving Systemic Change: Policies allow us to tackle emissions at their source by modernizing building codes, shifting toward renewable energy grids, and transforming public transit infrastructure.
Ensuring Accountability and Continuity: Codifying our climate action approaches into formal policy ensures that sustainability remains a permanent priority for our city, surviving political transitions and economic shifts.
Prioritizing Equity and Resilience: Climate change does not affect everyone equally. Strategic policy ensures that resilience investments—such as flood mitigation, green infrastructure, and urban cooling initiatives—are distributed equitably, protecting our most vulnerable neighborhoods first.

The initiatives listed below range from clean energy transition and sustainable mobility to waste reduction and climate adaptation. Together, these policies represent our operational roadmap to a city where every neighborhood is powered by clean energy and protected from the effects of climate change.

Energize Denver Building Performance Policy

This policy helps buildings use less energy and improve comfort. Buildings 25,000 sq. ft. and larger must meet specific energy-saving goals. Buildings 5,000–24,999 sq. ft. must complete certain energy-efficient upgrades.

Denver’s Universal Recycling and Composting Ordinance

Multifamily buildings, food businesses, and events must provide access to composting and recycling services. It also requires non-residential buildings to provide access to recycling services.

2025 Denver Energy Code

Learn about the 2025 Denver Energy Code and what your building needs to do to be in compliance. The Denver Energy Code has provisions for both new construction and existing buildings. Navigate with ease with checklists, fact sheets, and more.

Denver Green Code

The Denver Green Code addresses both climate change and biodiversity loss through mitigation, adaptation, and resiliency. Some provisions became mandatory for commercial buildings in 2023.

Disposable Bag Fee and Plastic Bag Ban

Denver’s Fee on Disposable Bags requires retail stores to charge 10 cents for each disposable bag provided to customers at checkout and bans the use of plastic bags entirely.

Skip the Stuff and Foam Ban

Restaurants in Denver are prohibited from using foam to-go containers of any kind or from providing disposable cutlery, except by customer request.

The policies and ordinances listed above represent some of the biggest tools Denver has to reach its climate goals. But they do not represent the full picture.

Denver's Comprehensive Plan 2040 identified a climate-resilient city as one of its six guiding elements. Because of this structural mandate, climate action and resiliency are not siloed within a single department; instead, they are deeply infused into the daily work, strategic plans, and operational approaches of many of Denver's 60 city agencies.

To help you navigate this collaborative effort, the policies listed below are organized by broad subject areas. While this registry is not an exhaustive inventory of every municipal initiative, it is designed to illustrate the diverse, cross-cutting paths through which our city is actively driving widespread, transformative change.