Colorado is putting $13.9 million behind six industrial projects and one engineering study aimed at squeezing pollution out of factories, breweries and wastewater plants across the state, with the funding expected to cut annual emissions equivalent to pulling 14,507 gas-powered cars off the road. The money, announced by the Colorado Energy Office, lands squarely in Northern Colorado and the Boulder Valley, touching sites in Weld County, Longmont, Fort Collins, Fort Lupton and Windsor.
According to the Denver Gazette, the Colorado Energy Office announced the $13.9 million in taxpayer funds on October 21 to help companies reduce pollution at factories and industrial sites. The money is split between two funding streams: about $2.8 million the Energy Office pays directly through the Clean Air Program, and $11.1 million in refundable tax credits issued through the Colorado Industrial Tax Credit Offering, or CITCO. Companies can use those refundable credits to lower their Colorado income taxes or collect a cash refund if the credits exceed what they owe, per the Gazette's reporting. The Clean Air Program itself traces back to 2022, when the Colorado General Assembly created it and transferred $25 million from the state general fund to get it running, the Gazette reports.
As BizWest reports, the awards cover six projects and one engineering study, and they push the state's total investment in industrial-emissions reduction initiatives past $73 million since 2023. Several of the funded projects sit inside what the Gazette describes as a Front Range area that fails to meet federal ozone standards, while ColoradoBiz similarly notes that multiple projects fall within Colorado's ozone nonattainment zone, where pollution exceeds federal limits.
Where the Money Is Going
The largest single award, $8 million in refundable tax credits, goes to Charm Industrial Inc. to expand its Fort Lupton plant with a pyrolysis unit that turns leftover wood and farm waste into a carbon-storing liquid, according to the Gazette. BizWest's account describes the same project as a fifth-generation pyrolysis pad converting forest and agricultural biomass residues into bio-oil for permanent underground storage.
TPSR Solar 16 LLC, based in Weld County, is receiving $1,055,738 to install a large battery storage system at a manufacturing plant, which the company plans to use to reduce diesel backup power and peak electricity charges, per the Gazette. New Belgium Brewing Company Inc. will get $699,595 to swap out its Fort Collins brewery's aging ammonia refrigeration system for more efficient equipment. In Longmont, Underground Manufacturing LLC, doing business as Vertpack, is set to receive $360,627 to add a high-efficiency printer at its commercial packaging facility.
Origen Carbon Solutions Inc., headquartered in Windsor, will receive $1 million in refundable tax credits for an engineering design study of a proposed low-emission lime plant at the Great Western Industrial Park, the Gazette reports. Rounding out the list, direct grants go to two technology companies still working to secure sites for equipment installation: Grand Valley Instrumentation was awarded $101,400 for methane-detection equipment to catch landfill leaks in Grand Junction, and Vycarb received roughly $2.7 million for a system designed to capture carbon from wastewater treatment plants.
State Officials Frame the Push as Climate and Clean-Air Strategy
Governor Jared Polis said in a news release, cited by the Gazette, that Colorado is investing in greenhouse-gas reductions and backing carbon-management and methane-detection technologies. Colorado Energy Office executive director Will Toor said factories and other industrial operations are a leading source of greenhouse gases and other air pollution, adding that continued support for these initiatives will advance the state's climate goals and cleaner air statewide.
The funding push is tied to broader state targets. Colorado law requires industrial-sector emissions to fall 20% below 2015 levels by 2030, and the Energy Office has released a longer-term plan examining further industrial emissions cuts. Separately, BizWest reports that the Energy Office's Industrial Decarbonization Blueprint lays out strategies to reach net-zero industrial greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050, with potential pathways to cut industrial emissions by 60% by 2040. Statewide, Colorado's broader climate law calls for cutting greenhouse-gas emissions 26% by 2025, 50% by 2030 and 100% by 2050 relative to 2005 levels, according to the Common Sense Institute.
A Count That Doesn't Quite Match, and a Cost Debate
North Forty News reported that the credits went to five Northern Colorado industrial projects as part of the $13.9 million statewide investment, while ColoradoBiz likewise put the recipient count at five. BizWest described six projects and one study overall and lists five tax-credit recipients among them.
The spending also arrives alongside pointed criticism of the state's environmental cost-benefit math. The Common Sense Institute's 2025 report estimated that state and local environmental policy has cost Colorado $18.3 billion in GDP and $13.8 billion in personal income through 2023, figures the pro-business research group frames as the price tag of the state's broader emissions agenda. On the advocacy side, GreenLatinos reiterated concerns about carbon storage and emerging fossil-based technologies, with the group's Mark Magaña previously warning that such approaches may cause adverse harms in communities already burdened by carbon pollution.
More Funding Rounds Already in Motion
The Energy Office isn't done handing out money this year. Clean Air Program grant applications remain open until November 20, and the next round of CITCO tax credits opens November 1. Global Renewable News reports that the Energy Office also opened another Clean Air Program application round on October 20 and scheduled an informational webinar for October 28 at 1 p.m. Mountain Time for businesses weighing whether to apply.
