Climate Resilience
Preparing our campus for a changing climate
Climate action is not only about reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It also means preparing CU Boulder’s people, infrastructure and operations for changing conditions and disruptions that can affect the university’s ability to carry out its mission.
Climate resilience is the ability to prepare for, withstand, recover from and adapt to disruptions while maintaining essential functions. At CU Boulder, many activities that support resilience are already part of everyday campus operations—from maintaining utilities and campus trees to managing water, communicating during disruptions and planning for continuity of critical services.
These efforts have not always been identified specifically as climate resilience, but they provide an important foundation for adapting as climate conditions change. CU Boulder’s 2024 Climate Action Plan recognizes adaptation and resilience alongside greenhouse gas reduction as components of long-term climate action.
Explore the Climate Action Plan
Different Approaches to Climate Action
Climate action uses several related terms to describe different ways of responding to climate change. Sustainability provides the broader long-term framework, while mitigation, adaptation and resilience describe different but complementary approaches to reducing climate impacts and preparing for change.
- Sustainability: Supporting environmental, social and economic well-being over the long term while using resources responsibly.
- Mitigation: Reducing greenhouse gas emissions to limit the magnitude of future climate change.
- Adaptation: Adjusting infrastructure, operations and practices to reduce vulnerability to current and expected climate impacts.
- Resilience: Strengthening the ability of people and campus systems to withstand disruptions, recover and adapt over time.
Mitigation addresses the causes of climate change, while adaptation and resilience address its impacts. Sustainability is the broader framework that connects these efforts over the long term.
Campus Climate Risks
Boulder and the Front Range experience climate-related conditions that can affect campus, including:
Extreme heat & drought
Higher temperatures can increase cooling needs, affect outdoor conditions and place additional stress on water supplies and landscapes.
Wildfire & smoke
Wildfire and regional smoke can affect air quality, outdoor activity, transportation and campus operations.
Flooding & heavy precipitation
Heavy rainfall and flash flooding can affect buildings, transportation, utilities and areas of campus near Boulder Creek.
Severe weather & high winds
High winds, snow, ice and other severe weather can damage infrastructure, disrupt transportation and interrupt campus services.
Utility disruptions
Extreme weather, grid outages and equipment failures can affect electricity, heating, cooling and other services that support research, housing and campus operations.
These risks can affect buildings and landscapes, research, transportation, utilities, housing, academic and business operations, and the health and well-being of the campus community.
How CU Boulder Supports Campus Resilience
Shade, Landscapes & Healthy Outdoor Spaces
Trees, landscapes and water management help campus adapt to hotter and drier conditions while supporting comfortable outdoor spaces and healthy ecosystems.
Campus tree canopy
CU Boulder maintains approximately 5,000 campus trees, providing shade, habitat and other environmental benefits.
Water-efficient landscapes
Native, xeric and climate-appropriate plantings reduce irrigation demand and can better withstand periods of heat and drought.
Adaptive irrigation
Weather-based irrigation controls, soil-moisture monitoring and non-potable ditch water help CU Boulder manage landscapes under changing water conditions.
Stormwater management
Campus drainage systems, rain gardens and other landscape features help manage runoff and reduce impacts from heavy precipitation.
Explore Water, Landscapes & Biodiversity
Reliable Utilities & Critical Infrastructure
Reliable electricity, heating, cooling and building systems are essential to teaching, research, housing and campus operations.
24/7 utility operations
Utility and Energy Services continuously monitors and maintains district energy plants and campus utility-distribution systems.
Backup power for critical needs
Campus facilities use emergency-generation capabilities to support critical systems during power disruptions, and teams verify generator readiness ahead of significant events.
Modernizing campus utilities
Projects such as chilled-water expansion and long-term heating-system modernization increase capacity and prepare infrastructure for changing energy and cooling needs.
Building improvements
Renovations, building-efficiency projects and infrastructure renewal help improve the reliability and performance of existing facilities.
Communications & Continuity
Resilience also depends on the university’s ability to communicate, coordinate and maintain essential functions when normal operations are disrupted.
Campus communications
CU Boulder Alerts, CU Advisories and other communication systems provide information about severe weather, utility outages, closures and other conditions affecting campus.
Continuity planning
Departments use Continuity of Operations Planning to identify critical functions and prepare for disruptions to staffing, facilities, utilities and other resources.
Maintaining essential services
Facilities Management, Housing & Dining, Transportation, Parking and other units maintain plans and procedures for continuing essential services during disruptive conditions.
Response and recovery
Existing emergency and operational plans provide established roles for assessing damage, restoring facilities and coordinating campus recovery following significant events. CU Boulder’s flood and snow planning, for example, assigns Facilities Management a central role in restoration and repair.
Building a More Structured Approach
CU Boulder already has many practices that support resilience, but this work has historically been distributed across campus operations, infrastructure, emergency management and individual departments rather than organized through a single climate-resilience framework.
Over the coming year, CU Boulder plans to develop a more structured approach to climate resilience that builds on existing practices and identifies where additional planning or action may be needed.
This work can include:
- Reviewing existing campus practices and plans through a climate-resilience lens
- Evaluating vulnerabilities across buildings, utilities, landscapes, transportation and other campus systems
- Identifying critical facilities, services and populations
- Benchmarking CU Boulder against peer institutions and established resilience practices
- Evaluating priorities such as heat and shade, backup power and critical utilities, and communications and continuity
- Identifying opportunities to incorporate climate risk into capital and infrastructure planning
- Developing practical priorities and measures that can be tracked over time
Considering People in Resilience Planning
Climate-related disruptions do not affect everyone in the same way. Where people work or live, their reliance on campus services, mobility and accessibility needs, and sensitivity to conditions such as extreme heat or wildfire smoke can influence how they experience disruptions.
As CU Boulder develops a more structured resilience approach, these differences can help inform priorities for infrastructure, communications, continuity planning and campus services.