Gathered at a Denver training facility on Logan Street earlier this month, members of several labor unions took a stand. There were the brothers and sisters from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the drivers hailing from Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1001, and the craftspeople from the Colorado Building and Construction Trades Council.

Others joined them and together they announced Climate Jobs Colorado, a coalition to address the growing climate crisis, its impacts on workers and worker inequality. Creating high-quality union jobs lowers costs for working families and builds a clean energy economy that works for Coloradans, they said.

“About a year and a half ago, labor leaders from across our state started discussing what we can do with the triple aim of advancing climate goals, improving our ability to organize and represent workers across the state in the green economy, and combating economic inequality,” Dennis Dougherty, executive director of the Colorado AFL-CIO, told the group. “Now is the time to do something about it, and that is why we are here today.”

A week later, Donald Trump began his second term as president. Over the next few days, Trump signed multiple executive orders that many say will set the United States on “a radically different path” from the Biden administration in terms of environmental directives and departments.

Now to figure out how to move ahead.

“We don’t know what a Trump administration will bring to the table,” said Nate Bernstein, executive director of Climate Jobs Colorado. “But it makes it all the more important that we work at the state level to enact policies that are favorable for Coloradans and for Colorado workers.”

The report

Labor officials were encouraged by a new report from Cornell University’s Climate Jobs Institute. Melissa Shetler, the institute’s senior training and education associate, joined the kickoff.

“We are honored to join you here today in Colorado, and have collaborated with so many of you to develop a plan that reflects Labor’s vision for addressing climate change through equitable clean energy transition,” she said. “This plan and this report emphasize creating good union jobs for Colorado communities, protecting existing workers and ensuring the (green energy) transition benefits frontline, rural and historically disadvantaged communities.”

The report cites warnings from the International Panel on Climate Change that without rapid reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions, the world is on track to warm between 2.7 and 3.6 degrees by the 2030s.

That warming “will give rise to catastrophic impacts not only around the world, but also in Coloradans’ own backyard,” such as the 2021 Marshall Fire, which destroyed over 1,000 homes, killed two people and caused more than $2 billion worth of damage, it says.

And the report gives recommendations for facing this future in the six sectors of energy, manufacturing, transportation, buildings, resilience and adaptation, and workforce development, including:

Climate Jobs Colorado aims to support union workers in climate jobs by pushing to maximize wages, benefits and working conditions and “make sure union members and those who wish to be in the union get a fair shake on the job,” Bernstein said.

Unions are “pushing up the living standards for all workers, and maximiz(ing) the number of members that we have in an industry so we can push up all wages in that industry,” he added. They also collectively bargain “to try to help address the concerns of members, whether it has to do with workplace safety, staffing or making sure they have sufficient resources to do their work.”

Climate jobs in Colorado

Colorado had 77,000 direct clean-tech, climate-tech and related energy jobs as of 2024, according to the state’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade.

From 2017 to 2023, the sector’s total employment grew by 2.2% compared to 1.4% on average for all U.S. states, it says.

According to a Clean Jobs Colorado 2024 report by the national environmental group E2, which advocates for “smart policies that are good for the economy and good for the environment,” Colorado’s renewable generation workforce grew 3.9 percent in 2023 to 18,718 individuals—the seventh largest in the country. It said solar and wind accounted for the majority of the sector’s workforce with 9,017 jobs and 7,880 jobs respectively.

Alissa Johnson, OEDIT’s spokesperson, said climate-related sectors added jobs at a much faster rate than the state’s overall employment, which grew by 2.5 percent.

Trump’s influence already apparent pre-2025

Even before Trump took office, potential for major policy shifts was already threatening the way Colorado operates.

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission passed the 2021 Electric Resource Plan in December 2023 with winning bids for projects capable of creating about 3,500 megawatts of renewable energy.

But one of the issues the PUC discovered was “that none of the projects were under contract because the developers were saying their bids weren’t reliable anymore,” Commissioner Tom Plant said. That’s because “they don’t know what level of tariffs are going to go into place and how it’s going to impact their project costs. What might change is already changing.”

The state regulators allowed for up to 15% movement on bid prices based on changes in federal law, but on Thursday, Plant added, “so far, (Trump) is only talking about (a 10% tariff) on China,” when “during the campaign his rhetoric was more like 60%.”

“On the renewable tax credits, Republicans have indicated that they intend to use the reconciliation process to pass Trump’s tax cuts for corporations, but they have also said they want to shift some of the costs of that from other stuff,” Plant added. “There’s an expectation that they will look at tax credits that were passed under the IRA to do that. One of those tax credits was the renewable tax credit, (and) also EV tax credits.”

On Monday, Trump stalled spending under the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act set to fund 42 environmental projects that could create infrastructure jobs in four states — Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico.

“If federal funding is not provided as promised by these contracts, infrastructure jobs in Colorado would be directly affected, now and in the future,” Johnson said. But “Colorado remains committed to doing our part to ensure the historic investments promised in our state are carried out,” she added.

Trump also for a second time pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement, which could jettison the United States’ Biden-era promise to cut climate pollution by up to 66% within a decade.

Colorado Climate Jobs will be watching Trump’s executive orders related to green energy and how they might impact the new climate jobs union.

“Obviously, President Biden and Congress passed some really landmark legislation with green energy and the Inflation Reduction Act,” Bernstein said. “It also has a lot of incentives to do the right thing on behalf of the workers building those things. And I don’t know if you heard the potential EPA administrator, but he said he believes in diversifying energy,” Bernstein added, referring to Lee Zeldin, Trump’s pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.

Gov. Jared Polis’ office said in an email they “have not seen any language” on Trump’s national energy emergency declaration, which a Trump administration official told reporters “will unlock a variety of different authorities related to oil, gas and coal production.” But Polis’ office said it “is closely monitoring to determine what impacts, if any, of such an order might be.”

Got a question, story tip or other idea for Colorado Sun rural-economy reporter Tracy Ross? Send her an email at tracy@coloradosun.com.

ICYMI: 17 Colorado environmental projects are in limbo after Trump halts spending from Biden-era law. Coloradans thought they had millions coming their way for environmental projects meant to address drought in the Colorado River Basin. Now, the future is uncertain. >> Read story

Sun economy stories you may have missed

➔ Nonrenewals are fueling Colorado’s growing homeowners insurance crisis. In Colorado, homeowners’ premiums are up nearly 60% in five years. But the state is also dealing with insurers dropping coverage or leaving the state altogether. >> Read story

➔ Vail Resorts boosts pay for patrollers in wake of Park City strike — but union workers must wait. Meanwhile, Crested Butte lift mechanics threaten to strike and Breckenridge employees walk out to protest conditions at company housing >> Read story

➔ How Donald Trump’s return-to-office order will affect the 45,000 federal employees throughout Colorado. According to federal data, most work in-person at the office some or all of the work week. >> Read story

➔ Colorado plans to limit coverage of weight-loss drugs like Wegovy for state employees to save $17M. The decision was made to help balance the state’s budget. At least one state lawmaker who gets GLP-1 treatment is fighting hard to prevent the change. >> Read story

➔ More Colorado PERA benefit cuts “likely” in next two years. Changes to the pension’s demographic assumptions make it likely that PERA’s finances will deteriorate, triggering another round of benefit cuts and contribution hikes under state law >> Read story

➔ With Biden-era consumer protections in jeopardy, Colorado Democrats look to crack down on rental housing fees. The effort got a boost last week from a top Federal Trade Commission official, who sent a letter to Gov. Jared Polis urging the state to target so-called “junk fees” >> Read story

King Soopers union sets first strike vote for Front Range stores, which could involve 10,000 workers. If workers vote to approve a strike, the walkout will involve more stores and employees than the nine-day strike in 2022. >> Read story

Take the poll: What’s so great/terrible about your city?

A week into this reader poll and it’s probably no surprise that more people have criticism than compliments for their city. “Lack of affordable housing in SAFE neighborhoods,” says one respondent from Fort Collins. “Lack of enforcement of minor traffic violations, i.e.: no front license plate,” says another, but from Denver.

“Awful public transportation,” said a Colorado Springs resident, who really enjoys hiking in Cheyenne Canyon.

If you’ve already taken the poll, thanks for your feedback. We’re hoping for more specific highlights (and lowlights) of your current hometown, so feel free to submit another response. We’ll keep it going another week.

Take the poll >> cosun.co/WWcity

Other working bits

➔ Workers at homeless organization vote to unionize. A division of the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless voted Wednesday to unionize, with 49 employees in favor and eight opposed. The workers are employed in the nonprofit’s Housing Supportive Services Department. The organization helps people struggling with homelessness.

CCH workers “routinely spoke about the need for higher wages, as they are some of the lowest-paid workers in the field,” said David Fernandez, a spokesman for the Service Employees International Union Local 105, in an email. SEIU has helped organize workers at Urban Peak and Wellpower. “Another major point for this workforce was addressing the high turnover, low employee support, and high caseloads that make the services they provide as frontline staff even more difficult,” he added.

CCH, which employs 850 people, said executives are “committed to working collaboratively with SEIU and the impacted employees through the next phase of the collective bargaining agreement process,” in a statement. >> See vote results

➔ Denver rents decline. That’s according to the fourth-quarter report from the Apartment Association of Metro Denver. In an analysis by Apartment Insights of nearly 250,000 rental units, the average monthly rent dropped $69 to $1,842, compared to a year earlier. “This is the steepest decline in rents in the Denver Metro Area we’ve seen since we began recording rent trends 44 years ago,” Mark Williams, AAMD’s executive vice president, said in a news release. There’s also a growing number of unoccupied apartments, with the vacancy rate at 6.9% — the highest in 16 years. Prices tend to fall when there’s a lot of supply and that’s what’s been happening in the region. More than 33,000 new apartment homes were completed and hit the market in the past two years. >> View apartment report

➔ Coming soon: 88 affordable condos in Glenwood Springs. Housing can be out-of-reach in Colorado’s mountain resort communities like Glenwood Springs, where the median sales price of a condo was $540,000 last month. Expect something more affordable after Habitat for Humanity of the Roaring Fork Valley completes the conversion of an 88-unit apartment complex into condos. The L3 complex is taking applications for deed-restricted one-bedrooms that start at $380,000. Studio units are less. Potential owners must put in some “sweat equity” with Habitat to qualify. The conversion is backed by $23.8 million in financing from FirstBank. >> Details

➔Colorado’s paid family leave tapped by 135,000 workers. And we’re only one year into Colorado’s Family and Medical Leave Insurance, or FAMLI. Payments totaled $687 million in 2024.The average weekly payment was $914. Of those who took leave last year, less than half — or 61,000 — used it to bond with a new child.

The paid-leave benefit, made possible after voters approved the 2020 ballot measure, offers up to 12 weeks of partial pay for workers to take time off to care for a new child, a sick family member or themselves. The program is funded by employers and workers, much like unemployment benefits. At the end of 2024, the FAMLI fund had a balance of $1.235 billion and “remains strong,” according to a spokesperson at the state Department of Labor and Employment. A good chunk of that fund — $1.027 billion — is invested in the state’s treasury pool. >> See FAMLI numbers, read earlier story

Got some economic news or business bits Coloradans should know? Tell us: cosun.co/heyww

Thanks for sticking with us for this week’s report. As always, share your 2 cents on how the economy is keeping you down or helping you up at cosun.co/heyww. ~ tamara & tracy

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What’s Working is a Colorado Sun column about surviving in today’s economy. Email tamara@coloradosun.com with stories, tips or questions. Read the archive, ask a question at cosun.co/heyww and don’t miss the next one by signing up at coloradosun.com/getww.

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