Canary Initiative

In 2005, the City of Aspen actively addressed climate change by creating the Canary Initiative, aimed to reduce Aspen's greenhouse gas emissions. Aspen reduced its emissions more than 8.3 percent from 2004 to 2007, with the goal of reducing them a total of 30 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050.

The Aspen Canary Initiative helped create two programs seen as models for the rest of the country- Canary Tags and Aspen ZGreen (in partnership with the City's Environmental Health Department).

Canary Tags are the first municipal carbon reduction investment program in the U.S.  A Canary Tag represents an investment in a local project (within 500 miles) that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Each Canary Tag represents the offset of one ton of carbon dioxide through renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.

The City of Aspen retires Canary Tags on behalf of purchasers, guaranteeing that your contribution results in a real and lasting investment in carbon reduction. This ensures that each Canary Tag is only accounted for once and is never resold.

For more information about Canary Tags, click here.

To find out where the money from Canary Tags is going to, click here.

Use the links below to offset your next travel to Aspen!

- Air Travel

- Auto Travel

- Home Energy Use

Want to reduce the environmental impacts of your lifestyle, business, or special event? The City of Aspen's ZGreen Program can help! To learn more, click here.