Lauren Folkerts

Candidate for City Council, Boulder, CO

Lauren is a member of our Local Climate Policy Network (LCPN). During Lauren’s current term, she championed a series of local climate and land-use reforms that reduce emissions across both the building and transportation sectors, Boulder’s two largest sources of local carbon pollution. Lauren led the adoption of Boulder’s first-in-the-nation embodied-carbon requirements for new construction, creating an easy-to-implement point system that sets the stage for stricter future limits.

Lauren also advanced key zoning changes to make neighborhoods more compact, walkable, and energy-efficient. Additionally, she supported Boulder’s ban on new gas hookups, removal of parking minimums, and strengthened transportation demand management (TDM) requirements to promote active and shared mobility. If re-elected, Lauren plans to revise building and zoning codes to eliminate incentives for high-carbon construction types and materials, modernize historic-preservation rules to make energy retrofits and wildfire-resilient improvements easier, and expand public transit access and reliability.

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lauren4boulder.com

Lauren’s Vision

Bold Climate Action
Rooted in Equity

Eliminate incentives in our code for high-carbon buildings and replace them with climate-smart alternatives

Expand energy upgrade incentives and fight for stronger statewide policies that make retrofits affordable
Ensure equity and sustainability are embedded in every city plan, especially through the Comprehensive Plan update
Reform zoning to support walkable, transit-rich, bike-friendly neighborhoods that reduce emissions and boost livability

Equitable Climate Adaptation & Community Resilience

Accelerate fire mitigation in the wildland-urban interface, including vegetation management and defensible space

Complete critical flood infrastructure, especially in underserved areas
Expand support for fire-resistant retrofits, prioritizing low-income and high-risk households
Support neighborhood-level preparedness and organizing so no one is left behind in an emergency

"Climate action isn’t optional, it’s essential, and it must be done equitably. The choices we make now will shape not just emissions, but opportunity, resilience, and justice for decades to come."

-Lauren Folkerts