DENVER – With over 800 sustainability advocates and stakeholders in attendance, Mayor Michael B. Hancock today kicked off the city’s 4th annual Sustainable Denver Summit. The Summit serves as a year-round catalyst for organizations to set and meet sustainability commitments and supports the city’s ambitious 2020 Sustainability Goals.

“No matter what’s happening at the White House, we believe in science here in Denver. And we’re taking the challenge of climate change seriously,” Mayor Hancock said. “Climate change threatens our people directly, putting our health, environment and economy – our very way of life – at risk. Our environmental and sustainability achievements are the result of the partnerships we have with our business community, our non-profits, our educational institutions and our residents.”

Video from the opening plenary session

Over 50 new commitments were made to take specific actions to move sustainability forward in Denver for this year’s summit. Commitments from city agencies announced by Mayor Hancock this year include:

• Office of Children’s Affairs: increase access to public transit and multi-modal transportation options for youth under age 18.

• Public Health and Environment: deploy 30 air quality sensors at 30 Denver Public Schools and relay the data to the community, and reduce food waste by 15 percent in five years, with much of the rescued food going to serve the hungry.

• Public Works: revitalizing the Federal Boulevard corridor between Alameda and Mississippi with green infrastructure and traffic safety enhancements.

• Division of Housing: in partnership with the Denver Housing Authority, produce an additional 200 affordable units in 2019 and 433 units in 2020 on top of the total numbers previously projected to be produced.

Mayor Hancock also announced one notable private sector commitment from Concept GeeBee, a Canadian producer of all-electric vehicles. Concept GeeBee committed to locate its first U.S. manufacturing plant in Denver if it can obtain orders for 125 vehicles in the Denver area.

Mayor Hancock and his Administration have initiated several key sustainability accomplishments over the past year that have set Denver on the path of remaining a local leader in addressing climate change:

• In February, the city signed a groundbreaking Memorandum of Understanding with Xcel that opens the door to a new level of cooperation between the city and the public utility provider to collaboratively pursue innovations in technology, clean energy, energy efficiency, expand electric vehicle infrastructure access and more to drive down carbon emissions.

• In July, Mayor Hancock and the Department of Public Health and Environment released the city’s detailed climate action plan, which calls for cutting carbon emissions 80 percent by 2050 and moving city facilities to 100 percent renewable electricity by 2025, with a community-wide target of 2030.

During the Summit, the more than 800 participants will work in one of seven tracks, collectively offering more than 20 breakout sessions to develop ideas for new and expanded initiatives that will address key areas within Denver-based community and government operations, including air and water quality, climate, energy, mobility, and food.