Colorado is not expected to meet its greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals in the next five years, but a new look at progress shows that, like a person trying to lose weight for a class reunion, the The state has lost a few more kilos. than expected even if he will not lose everything before the deadline.

Colorado’s climate policy team releases a report every two years that attempts to quantify the amount of greenhouse gas pollution released into the air from transportation, electricity productionthe oil and gas industry and other sources of pollution. The state released its last greenhouse gas inventory in 2023, and that report shows Colorado has failed to meet its 2025 and 2030 reduction goals.

On Thursday, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s Climate Policy Program and the Colorado Energy Office released a revised report that shows the state is still not on track to achieve reductions, but that the gap is smaller than previously announced.

“Colorado has made really significant progress over the past six years in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions and this latest inventory shows we are closer than expected to meeting our near-term goals for reducing greenhouse gas pollution,” said Will Toor, executive director of the Colorado Energy Office.

“There is a lot of work to do over the next couple of years, but we are seeing very good progress based on the work done so far.”

State climate policy officials presented their report to environmentalists and others Thursday afternoon. The Denver Post contacted four organizations that received briefings, but the only person who responded said their group did not have time to study the report and answer questions.

There are two reasons why the forecast has changed for Colorado.

First, state climate policy program analysts discovered an error in the collection of historical oil and gas industryso the baseline originally used was incorrect, Toor said. After the data revision, the ground that the state had to cover in this sector decreased.

Second, analysts changed their greenhouse gas reduction models based on a land use bill passed earlier this year by the Colorado Legislature. A plan to focus housing estates closer to jobs and transit stations and other measures should move the state closer to its goals, Toor said.

The Greenhouse Gas Inventory informs Governor Jared Polis’ Greenhouse Gas Roadmap, which outlines a strategy to reduce harmful emissions of carbon dioxide and methane that constitute gas pollution greenhouse effect.

The state’s goals are to limit greenhouse gas emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and other pollutants to 113.3 megatons of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2025 and to 76.5 megatons of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2030. The latest projection projects the state to reach 117.6 megatons by 2025 and 86.1 megatons by 2030, provided polluters meet the roadmap requirements.

Colorado has made reducing greenhouse gas emissions a priority as elected officials, environmentalists and others work to reduce climate changewhich causes unprecedented natural disasters at home, such as catastrophic wildfires, and abroad.

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is also expected to benefit Colorado’s Front Range, which is seriously violating federal air quality standards. Carbon dioxide and methane emissions also contribute to this problem, Toor said.

“Climate change is real and as a state we are committed to doing our part to make the changes needed to stabilize the global climate,” he said.

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