Boulder County has awarded 2024 Climate Innovation Fund grants to five organizations: Boulder Mushroom, Eco-Cycle, High Plains Biochar, MASA Seed Foundation, and The Watershed Center. These recipients will use the funds to mitigate wildfire risks with mushrooms, establish a composting network that transforms local business food scraps into high-quality farm compost, expand biochar production for local farms, enhance biodiversity with a fruit forest, and measure carbon sequestration from a 10-acre stream restoration project.
Boulder Climate Award to Yellow-Barn-Earthworks-Team
Established in 2022, the Climate Innovation Fund supports local projects focused on carbon dioxide removal, enhancing landscape resilience, and restoring ecosystems. This year, the county allocated $531,950 to these initiatives. A panel of eight national and local experts selected the winning projects through a competitive process, with funding requests exceeding $4 million, more than double the amount sought in the previous round.
“Supporting local solutions to local environmental challenges is at the heart of this fund,” said Susie Strife, Boulder County Director of Sustainability, Climate Action & Resilience. “As we enter the program’s second year, we are eager to see these initiatives bring substantial benefits to our community and serve as models for replication across the country.”
Grantees from the fund’s inaugural round in 2022 have already made significant impacts locally, nationally, and internationally, informing policymakers, drawing down carbon, and improving soil health. Their efforts have attracted broad attention with features in The Washington Post, BBC, NPR, and Newsweek.
This summer’s record-breaking temperatures are stark reminders of the escalating impacts of the climate crisis. NASA reported that July 21, 22, and 23, 2024, were the hottest days on record. Human activities are driving this crisis by generating climate pollution that warms the planet.
Addressing the climate crisis demands both a shift away from fossil fuels and the removal of existing climate pollution from the atmosphere. Boulder County’s Climate Innovation Fund supports initiatives that develop scalable solutions to reduce climate pollution and enhance environmental resilience through nature-based and technological innovations.