This article highlights Boulder County, Colorado, and Flagstaff, Arizona, as partners in a pragmatic and scalable interlocal coalition for municipal climate action and innovation, focusing on carbon dioxide removal (CDR). As founding partners in the five-member Four Corners Climate Coalition (4CCC), which includes Albuquerque, New Mexico; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Santa Fe, New Mexico, these communities offer a working model for environmental response and a replicable interlocal approach for professional city and county managers.

Climate action increasingly requires local governments to focus on relevant means to accomplish measurable reductions in carbon footprints and to find ways to reduce carbon legacy pollution. The 4CCC harnesses interjurisdictional cooperation, multiplying the impact of all its partners. Their efforts demonstrate how strategic planning, operational commitment, and public engagement transform environmental goals into everyday practice.

Boulder County and Flagstaff: Exemplary Local Commitment

Boulder County is a lighthouse jurisdiction in terms of its climate innovation. Its Office of Sustainability, Climate Action and Resilience (OSCAR) fosters programs that significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and expand carbon removal. Recent programs include a Climate Equity Fund, investment in nature-based solutions, and technical support for business and residential decarbonization. 

The county’s Carbon Removal Playbook—developed in partnership with Carbon Direct—articulates best practices for local leaders seeking to measurably deploy carbon dioxide removal (CDR) in relevant, practical ways.

In 2021, a wildfire fast-tracked Boulder County’s resolve to make resilience a core principle in landscape restoration, watershed health, and all other areas of its sustainability operations and grantmaking.

The Boulder County Innovation Fund allocates resources to projects focused on carbon-reducing concrete, regenerative agriculture, and waste-to-carbon sequestration, highlighting scalable opportunities for municipalities across the nation. Boulder County is committed to socially just outcomes.

Flagstaff’s climate leadership is similarly noteworthy. The Sustainability Office has far-reaching adaptation and mitigation programs that range from energy efficiency rebates, community sustainability grants, and wildfire resilient home incentives to overarching initiatives such as the city code analysis, which analyzes current code through the climate emergency lens. In 2020, the Flagstaff City Council declared a climate emergency and adopted a Carbon Neutrality Plan targeting carbon neutrality by 2030—remarkably, with 56% of reductions projected from carbon dioxide removal. 

Local needs have shaped Flagstaff’s CDR priorities. Flagstaff is actively exploring opportunities to accelerate CDR through policy and collaborative projects. Projects converting “liability biomass” from wildfire mitigation and wastewater into durable carbon sinks underscore the value of matching local need with climate strategy. Through coalition grants, Flagstaff has demonstrated leadership in carbon-storing concrete and hands-on engagement, creating replicable models for community-driven climate action.

The Four Corners Climate Coalition Model

4CCC’s influence lies in its intersectional approach and ability to pool resources. Boulder County and Flagstaff, as founding members, seeded the first grant cycles with a technical and financial partnership. The coalition’s expansion to include Albuquerque, Salt Lake City, and Santa Fe enhances its regional reach and knowledge capabilities. At the same time, its practice of “learning by doing” keeps solutions grounded in relevant community priorities. The coalition leverages expertise from business innovators (CarbonBuilt), a philanthropic sponsor (Terraset), and a network of professionals to augment member impact.

The Community Carbon Removal Challenge

A hallmark of coalition strategy is the Community Carbon Removal Purchasing Challenge, which reframes climate action not as a technical ideal but as a lived, daily municipal priority. By encouraging cities and counties to make initial CDR purchases, the Challenge establishes precedent, fosters hands-on learning, and promotes community engagement. The size of projects is less critical than building capacity and catalyzing market demand. Flagstaff and Boulder County’s early demonstration projects have included forest management, innovative infrastructure, and operational waste reduction.

Managerial Implications

For ICMA members, the work in 4CCC illustrates that:

1. Demonstration projects and practical implementation can be prioritized over theory.
2. Regional coalitions expand capacity, leverage financial capacity, and foster innovation.
3. Ongoing education, from staff training, is a viable strategy.
4. Local solutions work, such as landscape restoration in Boulder County or wildfire mitigation and wastewater management in Flagstaff.
5. Equity and resilience can be a focus of all climate initiatives.

Participating jurisdictions demonstrate a proven, SMART strategy: start with real-world pilots, foster broad engagement, proceed with interjurisdictional fiscal leverage, and focus on measurable, quantitative, and qualitative operational excellence.

The leadership displayed by Boulder County, Flagstaff, and the Four Corners Climate Coalition shows city and county managers across the nation that effective carbon dioxide removal is feasible and relevant. Local innovation and collaboration, supported by interjurisdictional financial commitment and technical expertise, foster specific progress and scalable solutions. The environmental call and challenge from Boulder County, Flagstaff, Salt Lake City, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque (4CCC) is to lead, learn, engage, and achieve. In the drive for climate sustainability, cooperative local action remains a great asset and our best hope for a resilient future ecology.

Thanks to Susie Strife, Ph.D., director of sustainability, climate action, and resilience, Boulder County, Colorado, and Nicole Antonopoulos, M.A., sustainability director, Flagstaff, Arizona.