Mayor Jeni Arndt Announces Fort Collins’ Participation in Building Performance Standards Coalition

Mayor Jeni Arndt recently announced that Fort Collins has committed to inclusively design and implement building performance standards and complementary policies and programs across the city, driving investment into building retrofits and good-paying jobs that create healthier buildings and lower housing and energy costs.

The news comes as Fort Collins begins prioritizing Our Climate Future strategies with local community members and adopting Building Performance Standards for City-owned buildings. The City is excited to joins forces with state and local governments across the country in the National Building Performance Standards (BPS) Coalition, a collaboration launched by the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Building performance standards paired with complementary programs and policies will support the health, equity, and climate goals of the community.

“Over the last year, Fort Collins has experienced the unavoidable impacts of climate change, feeling the compounded pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic alongside extreme heat days, severe wildfires, and resulting air and water quality issues,” said City of Fort Collins Mayor, Jeni Arndt.  “Addressing the climate crisis continues to be a top priority for our community, and we are committed to taking bold and accelerated action to address the impacts. Assessing Fort Collins’ built environment and incorporating minimum building performance standards are one of the many strategies that our City is exploring.”

Buildings are responsible for 60% of Fort Collins’ carbon emissions. Upgrading and retrofitting buildings to increase clean energy sources and reduce overall energy use can dramatically reduce these harmful emissions. At the same time, energy retrofits and upgrades can be leveraged to concurrently improve a building’s health and resilience for its occupants and surrounding community, while generating jobs and increased local economic investment. Through the Coalition, Fort Collins commits to increasing community and local stakeholder engagement to co-design building performance standards and complementary policies and programs –with the ultimate goal of advancing legislation or regulation, with adoption by Earth Day 2024.

“We are eager for the opportunity to support city and state leaders representing the vanguard of innovative climate policy and joining this National Building Performance Standards Coalition. Members of this groundbreaking coalition will help drive new jobs to make existing buildings across the country more efficient, affordable, healthier and resilient, and will deliver equitable benefits across their jurisdictions,” said Mark Chambers, Senior Director for Building Emissions and Community Resilience at the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

In pursuing our commitments as a member of the National BPS Coalition, Fort Collins will be able to leverage technical support via federal agencies including the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency. For more information about the coalition, visit nationalBPSCoalition.org.