Colorado Green Business Network (CGBN)

New in 2024, the City of Louisville has become a Regional Partner of the Colorado Green Business Network (CGBN), which means our team will be running the Colorado Green Business Network in our community.

What is the Colorado Green Business Network?

The Colorado Green Business Network (CGBN) is free to all Colorado businesses - we offer on-site technical assistance, as well as long-term coaching and support. We also offer statewide recognition for all interested businesses of all sizes and sectors.

CGBN is a free, voluntary program that provides technical assistance to, and promotion and recognition of, local businesses in Louisville pursuing sustainability goals. Our role is to provide an accessible, Louisville-based team with the knowledge and tools to walk you through the CGBN registration and application process. Our goal is to make it easy to connect businesses with funding, resources and skills that make sustainability attainable across business sector and size.

How it works

The first step to joining the Colorado Green Business Network is registering your business in CGBN’s GreenBizTracker. This simple (and quick) step of signing up will get you connected to the CGBN newsletter, which includes information about upcoming events and educational and funding opportunities. All freely available.

Once registered and depending on their sustainability goals, CGBN freely supports local businesses through three approaches:

Conducting off-site coaching and on-site technical assistance to any business that requests it. These assessments are a valuable way to identify opportunities for environmental and social performance and resource savings, and to target areas businesses want to improve such as energy, water, waste and transportation.

Providing businesses with a report of recommendations and connections to rebates, grants, additional technical assistance and ongoing coaching and support in the form of trainings, newsletters, workshops, events and networking opportunities.

For businesses that choose to pursue Bronze, Silver or Gold-level certification, recognizing and awarding businesses for exemplary practices that lead to resource reduction. Certified businesses are recognized in a public CGBN directory and receive a CGBN press kit including a window decal for storefront marketing, logo and governor signed certificate. Additionally, certified businesses receive priority permitting within the CO Department of Public Health and Environment, support with regulatory assistance, and letters of recommendation for grant and program applications.

Why register for the Colorado Green Business Network?

By just registering for the Colorado Green Business Network, businesses have access to free technical assistance and operational assessments. Assessments are about identifying and evaluating opportunities that produce resource and financial savings. These can lead to the reduction of input costs, disposal costs, compliance issues, worker exposure, risk and liability, while increasing performance, customer preference, product differentiation, worker satisfaction and retention.

Another highly noted benefit of registering with CGBN is notification of new and upcoming funding and financing opportunities that will help reduce (or negate) the financial impact of higher cost projects. Most businesses don’t have the time to invest seeking out these opportunities, but through the CGBN newsletter and communications with our team, businesses can learn of new funding opportunities early on.

Equally valued are our networking opportunities and community that is willing and happy to share best practices and procedures.

I'm a Louisville Green Business partner, what does this mean for me?

In the coming weeks, your account in GreenBizTracker will be updated, and you’ll see the CGBN Application appear in your dashboard and surveys tab.

If you wish to stay in the program at the support level, there’s nothing you need to do! You’ll be added to our support level newsletter, and will continue to be invited to events and workshops as a member of our community. Keep an eye out for new opportunities in our area!

If you wish to receive recognition as a Certified Green Business in our program, you can reach out to Hannah Miller, Sustainability Specialist or explore the application, which lives in the “surveys” tab of your GreenBizTracker account. Applications are due on June 30th each year, and we are always available to answer questions, provide support, or help walk you through the application.

What is included in technical assistance?

The CGBN offers FREE sustainability assessments and follow-up support to help you improve energy efficiency, water conservation, waste reduction, and corporate social responsibility. Our team of Green Business specialists provide high level technical assistance on an ongoing basis. We work with organizations of any size, type, and expertise - no matter where they are in their sustainability journey.

Our technical assistance includes:

On-site opportunity assessments, where one of our Green Business Specialists comes on site to your facility to assess sustainability opportunities that may exist, and provides a holistic report highlighting recommended next steps for resource savings, policy improvements, and financial resources to achieve your sustainability goals.
On-site performance assessments are designed to support certified businesses in moving from one level of membership in the program to the next - for example, from Bronze to Silver, with extra support and recommendations depending on the business’s needs.

Benefits of joining the CGBN

The Colorado Green business Network provides a support system, mentorship, technical assistance, and statewide recognition for business that are interested in improving their environmental and social performance.

CGBN Support Level a business receives;

Ongoing technical assistance, on and off-site, which leads to saving money through efficiency.
Access to our monthly opportunities and funding newsletter.
Access to all our free workshops and events.

This is available without any application, and only requires a GreenBizTracker registration.

CGBN Certified Business recognized members gain additional benefits including;

A public directory on GreenBizTracker.
Organization name and information on CGBN website.
A press kit including CGBN logos, a window decal, and governor signed certificate.
Priority permitting within CDPHE.
Support with regulatory assistance.
Letters of recommendation when applying to grants and programs.

To become a verified member, business must complete the full application on GreenBizTracker by June 30th.

How long does it take to apply?

The application is points based, so you don't need to be able to answer every question in order to receive recognition. Many questions will be related to policies and procedures that the owner or manager will already know about the business, and others may be relating to resource reduction projects that take a bit more time to organize and track. The technical manual provides an overview of each question, to help you understand the criteria better.

Depending on the extent of your business' environmental and social efforts so far, the application can take anywhere from 1 to 3 hours to complete. Over time, you'll have more information you can provide.

Examples of items that you may want to collect before completing the application are listed below:

Utility Bills including electricity and heating bills, water bills, waste collection bills
Records and Policies like mileage records on vehicles, employment policies, and sourcing/purchasing policies.

What are the commitments of a Certified Member?

In order to maintain good standing in the Colorado Green business Network, organizations will need to;

Submit annual updates. A big part of the program framework is tied to continual improvement and engagement in the community, annual updates have been a long standing part of the Colorado Green Business Network. These annual updates are also done through the GreenBizTracker software, and take the form of an update survey that will be sent out each year, and will need to be turned in by the application deadline. This should take no more than an hour or two annually.
Renew every 3 years, during which they will resubmit all information provided at time of application, and will undergo and additional compliance check, identical to the check a new member experience.

City of Louisville, CO

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Colorado Green Business Network (CGBN)