Metropolitan Regional Building Policy Cohort
Roadmap to Zero Emissions New Construction and Energy Code Amendment Package
Colorado’s local governments are in a unique position to address their greatest source of carbon emissions: the built environment. In the Denver metropolitan region, the built environment is responsible for 52% of regional greenhouse gas emissions and jurisdictions have set goals to reduce emissions from buildings to protect health and safety. Building energy codes in Colorado are adopted and enforced at the local level, usually based on International Energy Conservation Codes (IECC), but these are not sufficient to meet local and state goals intended to protect residents from the impacts of air pollution and climate change.
Roadmap to Zero Emissions New Construction
A Roadmap to Zero Emissions New Construction was developed in 2025 by a cohort of 15 jurisdictions in the Denver metropolitan region and recommends a phased approach to energy code policies for new construction and major remodels to achieve zero emissions by 2030. By implementing these policies consistently, we can ease compliance for healthy buildings that ensure no one - residents, businesses, tenants, and workforce - is left behind in the transition towards clean electric technologies.
The cohort is striving for regional consistency, and while jurisdictions are starting at various points along the pathway towards zero emissions new construction, they are increasingly converging towards all-electric or electric-preferred codes. A key point along the path is a code amendment package based on the 2024 IECC that exceeds Colorado’s Model Low Energy and Carbon Code in terms of emissions in several areas.
Additional Resources
Roadmap Appendix A: Collaborative Members and Background. Includes background on the cohort’s work in Phase 1 and Phase 2.
Roadmap Appendix B: Additional Code Elements. Includes additional policy mechanisms beyond energy codes, such as embodied carbon, waste, and water use, that jurisdictions can consider adopting.
Roadmap Fact Sheet. A three page, highly visual, executive summary of the Roadmap.
Cohort Amendment Package Fact Sheet. A two page easily digestible summary of the cohort amendments.
Metro Cohort Amendments - Custom ICC Code: coming soon!
Contact Info
The Roadmap and code amendment package are available for any community to customize and adopt. If you are interested in these or if you need access to any of the adoption support materials please get in touch with us!
Cohort Background
The cohort began in 2021 when a group of eight communities in the Denver metropolitan region convened to collaborate on adopting the 2021 IECC with supporting amendments that better prepare a building for future installations of rooftop solar, electric vehicles (EVs), electric appliances, and electric space and water heating systems. A regional code amendment package was developed and adopted by most of the eight communities with support from Lotus, the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project, and Shums Coda Associates. This work was funded by a Department of Local Affairs grant and created a framework in the state for regional collaboration on building codes which has been deployed in other areas of Colorado.
Phase 2 of the project began in 2022 with an expanded cohort of ten communities with a goal of creating a roadmap of ranked local, achievable, affordable, and equitable policies and strategies to reach the goal of net zero new construction by 2030 for the region. The roadmap was written and designed by Lotus, with support from SWEEP and Shums Coda. This roadmap laid a foundation for the Roadmap to Zero Emissions New Construction.
