Fort Collins' Broadcom cut greenhouse gas emissions 60% or more, boosting city's progress
After several years of steady decline in its greenhouse gas emissions, Fort Collins semiconductor chip component maker Broadcom has been given a Environmental Stewardship Award from Larimer County.
Back in 2016, Broadcom was the Fort Collins area's biggest polluter, emitting more than 306,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions that year (Scope 1), according to data shared by the Environmental Protection Agency. In 2021, The company's Scope 1 emissions were reported at just above 125,000 metric tons, a decrease of about 59%.
Today, Broadcom is still the second-highest emitter in the Fort Collins area and the third-highest in the county, but its reductions have had an impact on cutting total community emissions.
As far as Fort Collins area emissions, the Larimer County Landfill is now the largest polluter, with nearly 196,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions in 2021. The Rawhide Energy Station is still the biggest polluter in all of Larimer County, at 1.74 million metric tons. That coal-fired plant is located about 20 miles northeast of Fort Collins and is set to close by 2030.
Depending on which numbers you look at, Broadcom's reductions may be even more significant than 59%.
The Brendle Group, working on behalf on Broadcom, provided data to the Coloradoan from 2015 to 2022 that includes not just Scope 1 emissions, which are direct greenhouse gas emissions from sources that are controlled or owned by an organization, but Scope 2 emissions as well. These are indirect GHG emissions associated with the purchase of electricity, steam, heat or cooling.
Those numbers show a 65% decline since 2015. The company says the use of renewable energy certificates brings the total reduction to 68%.
Broadcom uses 2015 as its baseline because it "reflects current production levels (significant facility growth between 2005 and 2015)," according to information provided by The Brendle Group.
Looking back to 2011, when the reporting requirement began, Broadcom's Scope 1 emissions were 40,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. They peaked in 2016 at 306,000.
"Broadcom has systematically reduced its emissions for over 10 years, before legal limits were enacted, recognizing the importance of using sustainable manufacturing practices while creating some of the world’s most advanced wireless technology," a Larimer County news release about the Environmental Stewardship Award said.
Broadcom began installing abatement units at its Fort Collins site, 4380 Ziegler Road, in 2012. With a sharp increase in production from 2012 to 2016, Broadcom "aggressively installed abatement units on high-emitting tools" between 2015 and 2022, the award recognition states.
Today, it uses 30 abatement units to reduce emissions, according to the county.
Broadcom, formerly Avago Technologies, employs about 1,100 people at its Fort Collins facility, its largest manufacturing site.
What Broadcom's greenhouse gas emissions mean for Fort Collins' goals
Fort Collins has set goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and reduction of industrial emissions is part of "Our Climate Future," the guiding framework the city created to address its climate, waste and energy goals.
Fort Collins' total greenhouse gas emissions in 2021 were just under 1.77 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, according to a city report. For comparison, Broadcom's Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions in 2021 were 178,852 metric tons.
But from 2015 to 2020, Broadcom was responsible for about one-third of the city's reduction of community emissions, the company said and city of Fort Collins officials confirmed.
"Broadcom’s actions to reduce industrial emissions will continue to have a significant impact on the community-wide GHG inventory, helping the Fort Collins community make progress towards council-adopted climate goals," said Honore Depew, climate program manager for the city of Fort Collins, in an email to the Coloradoan.
Fort Collins didn't include Broadcom's greenhouse gas emissions in its calculations until 2019. Fort Collins Sustainability Group steering committee member Kevin Cross believes his group played a big part in that, pressuring the city to include Broadcom's emissions in its accounting.
It's good that Broadcom has reduced its massive emissions, Cross said, but they're still quite high.
"I think it’s absurd that the county gave them an award," he said, because it "ignores the community pressure that probably had something to do with it."
"Broadcom has put an awful lot of emissions in the environment," Cross said, noting the sulfur hexafluoride it produces can live in the atmosphere for up to a few thousand years.
The sustainability group has been advocating for policies that make polluters in the city pay for their emissions, such as a tax or fee assessed to large emitters.
To help reach its climate action goals, the city earlier this year considered such a tax, which would have applied only to Broadcom and Anheuser-Busch. Several city council members were in favor of the tax, but ultimately staff did not move forward with it because it was expected to generate less than $1 million annually and would not have been a long-term funding solution for Fort Collins' climate action priorities.
Fort Collins Chief Financial Officer Travis Storin at the time told the Coloradoan both Broadcom and Anheuser-Busch expect to be below the Environmental Protection Agency's threshold for large emissions in the next several years. Mandatory reporting of greenhouse gas emissions is required when carbon dioxide equivalent emissions reach 25,000 metric tons.
Cross said he believes City Council was a little too willing to take Broadcom’s promises, but if the company makes good on them, he concedes the large emitter tax wouldn't have been a great source of income.
Cross said another option could be a utility occupation tax or fee, which targets the largest users of natural gas in the city. The proceeds can subsidize the cost of moving away from natural gas to electric heating.
Instead of the large emitter tax, in November, Fort Collins voters will consider a half-cent sales tax, 25% of which will go toward efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Fifty percent will go to parks and recreation, and 25% will go toward transit expansion.
What are Fort Collins' greenhouse gas reduction goals?
Fort Collins city government set goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, using 2005 as its baseline:
20% reduction by 2020
80% by 2030
and be carbon neutral by 2050
A 2021 report showed Fort Collins was 24% below 2005 levels.
Then last year, council adopted an interim target for greenhouse gas reductions: 50% reduction by 2026. City staff estimates Fort Collins will be 43% below the 2005 baseline in 2026, so meeting the goal will require accelerating existing strategies, identifying new strategies and investing in additional community leadership and action.
Larimer County's largest greenhouse gas emitters
Scope 1 2021 carbon dioxide equivalent emissions
Rawhide Energy Station: 1,738,576 metric tons
Larimer County Landfill: 195,915
Broadcom: 125,323
Colorado State University: 43,819
Anheuser Busch: 43,711
Source: Self-reported to Environmental Protection Agency
Greenhouse gas emissions in Fort Collins
Scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon dioxide equivalent emissions:
2021: 1,766,870 metric tons
2020: 1,756,691
2019: 2,146,679
2018: 2,132,677
2017: 2,151,239
2016: 2,262,123
2015: 2,280,834
2005: 2,327,114
Source: City of Fort Collins
*2019 was the year Broadcom's emissions began being included in Fort Collins' totals
Broadcom's scope 1 greenhouse gas emissions:
2021: 125,324 metric tons
2020: 139,671
2019: 182,824
2018: 172,334
2017: 201,755
2016: 306,331
2015: 288,703
2014: 213,562
2013: 94,031
2012: 58,920
2011: 40,621
Source: Self-reported to Environmental Protection Agency
Editor's note: This story has a clarification. Broadcom is the second largest polluter in the Fort Collins area. The Larimer County landfill, located just outside city limits, has higher emissions than Broadcom.
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Broadcom is being recognized for reducing emissions in Fort Collins
