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City of Seattle Blog

Cities are the Engines to Drive a Green and Just Recovery

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Cities are the engines that can drive a green and just recovery from COVID-19. On Monday, May 10, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan joined a group of leading global and city leaders to meet with U.S. Special Envoy for Climate, John Kerry, to work together to secure a sustainable and equitable future for all, followed by a panel discussion hosted by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), a not-for-profit charity that runs the global disclosure system for investors, companies, cities, states and regions to manage their environmental impacts.

The virtual meeting, convened by C40 Cities, provided an opportunity to discuss collaborations on climate initiatives and continue momentum around a renewed sense of international climate cooperation. Mayor Durkan briefed Secretary Kerry on the climate policies and projects being delivered in Seattle and our commitment to inclusive climate action in line with the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement. Speakers also shared ideas on how to build national government support for city climate action and ambition on the road to COP26.

Mayor Durkan also participated at the CDP North America workshop panel, “Breaking Through Barriers: How We Can Deliver on the Decade of Action”, and was joined by Marilyn Waite, Program Officer, Environment, William & Flora Hewlett Foundation and Jeannie Renné-Malone, VP of Global Sustainability, VF Corporation. 

Panelists discussed the many successes and challenges encountered along the way, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, as cities, businesses, and philanthropies work to fundamentally reshape our economy for a fossil-fuel free future.  

Here in Seattle, many City staff and departments were redeployed to support community members access basic health care and safety needs. Our greatest successes have come when we center community and work to build Seattle back better by ensuring those who have been most burdened by COVID-19 and climate change are the ones who will benefit most from our clean energy transition.  

For example, Mayor Durkan lauded that the City was able to give out $500,000 in Environmental Justice Fund grants (the most-ever!) to community-led organizations who are designing projects that will advance climate justice and directly benefit those most in need. Seattle is also working to establish a Green New Deal oversight board with community members and labor representatives to ensure a just transition and create better pathways and funding mechanisms to support good paying jobs in the clean energy economy.   

“Our economic recovery is tied to our climate and equity goals; We can’t meet our climate goals unless we are centered and realize the ways environmental injustice has happened so we can build our city back better”

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan

In February, Mayor Durkan signed legislation making Seattle’s building energy code one of the strongest on climate in the nation. The updates to the energy code will require nearly all new commercial and large multifamily buildings to use clean electricity for space and water heating and maximize building efficiency and on-site renewables. In addition, the same criteria applies when existing buildings are substantially upgraded or space or water heating equipment is replaced.  

And in March, Seattle released its new Transportation Electrification Blueprint, a first of its kind, comprehensive City-wide plan that outlines how the City will move toward a clean and equitable transportation system. Through this work, we will electrify everything that moves people, goods, or services in and around our City in order to reduce climate emissions and air pollution, increase electric mobility options, and create a pipeline of green jobs and workforce diversity. 

Green Worker Spotlight: Moving Toward a More Just and Healthy City

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The COVID-19 pandemic has made worse many existing inequities across our communities. As we work to build Seattle back better, we have an opportunity to build a more just, healthy, and beautiful city.

Under a Green New Deal framework, we are working to eliminate our city’s climate pollution by 2030, advance environmental justice, and create good, green, well-paying jobs. We are doing a Green Worker Spotlight on three individuals who are not only rising to the climate challenge, but also continuing to lead their communities in solutions for all.

Edwin Wanji – Sphere Solar Energy
Recent solar workforce diversity reports show a lack of diversity in the industry. At Sphere Solar, Edwin’s team is working to make energy accessible and clean, and paving the way for people of color and immigrants in the solar industry to serve all members of the community, especially for vulnerable populations. This includes energy, water and waste infrastructure, transportation sector, supported by an inclusive and diverse workforce.

Solar Sphere has successfully delivered international relief projects in Haiti and Kenya, and are supporting a solar project with a local faith-based organization, leveraging grant funding resources from the local utility, and providing education and training for the historically BIPOC congregation.

Solar Sphere is working to advance a green economy from the clean energy, community resilience, and environmental justice standpoint, and hopes to increase capacity for providing strategic advisory support at the local, national and international level. Learn more here: https://spheresolarenergy.com/

Masra Clamoungou, Black Farmers Collective and Small Axe Farms

The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified the need for improved natural resources and access to healthy food and green space where communities can grow culturally-significant foods and medicines.

Farmers and farmworkers play a fundamental role within the green economy by being aware of the ways that natural systems interact and through responsibly managing the use of these systems and resources to produce nourishment for human communities.

Black Farmers Collective is working to reclaim Black and Indigenous relationships with the land, improve BIPOC communities’ food sovereignty, and guide discussions about racial inequality. Learn more here: https://blackstarfarmers.org/

Stuart Vázquez, Eco-Lógica

Bringing information and education to support communities who have been most impacted by environmental injustice get involved in green living is critical for living a more sustainable lifestyle.

Eco-Lógica is the first and only bilingual magazine about environmental and sustainability education totally free in the Puget Sound area. Learn more about Eco-Lógica here, and leave a comment below about how your job helps protect the environment! https://ecologicamagazine.com/

Apply to Join the Green New Deal Oversight Board

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The City of Seattle expanded on its history of progressive climate action by enacting the Green New Deal Resolution to help create jobs and advance an equitable transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy by prioritizing investments in communities historically most harmed by economic, racial, and environmental injustices.

Seattle City Council voted to form the Green New Deal Oversight Board (CB 119604) to advance the work of establishing a Green New Deal for Seattle. The Seattle Green New Deal Oversight Board is composed of representatives who are passionate about advancing an equitable transition to a clean energy economy, centering frontline communities and workers most impacted by climate change. 

How to Apply:
If you are interested in collaborating with a team of community leaders working on bold and transformative solutions to climate change and racial and economic inequity, we encourage you to APPLY HERE by April 16.

For more information, questions, or assistance with the application process please contact equityenviro@seattle.gov or call (206) 487-0007. 

The Oversight Board will work towards developing a workplan that includes:

  • A definition of what constitutes a policy, program or project that advances a Green New Deal for Seattle
  • Proposals for new policies and programs to advance the Green New Deal for Seattle;
  • Support in planning and implementation of City actions to make Seattle climate-pollution free by 2030;
  • City budget and legislative recommendations;
  • Engagement with departments and existing committees, boards, and commissions.  

The Green New Deal Oversight Board will be made up of 19 members appointed by the Mayor and City Council for a renewable, 3-year term.

  • Eight positions designated for community representatives directly impacted by racial, economic, and environmental injustices (including two tribal members and two individuals between the ages of 16 and 25 at the time of their appointment).
  • Four positions designated for representatives of labor unions.
  • Three positions designated for representatives of environmental justice organizations.
  • Three positions designated for representatives with experience in greenhouse gas reduction and climate resiliency strategies relevant to cities.
  • One position designated for an individual specializing in workforce training.

APPLY HERE by April 16.

For more information, questions, or assistance with the application process please contact equityenviro@seattle.gov or call (206) 487-0007. 

Seattle’s Blueprint for an Electrifying Future

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We are excited to announce the City of Seattle’s new Transportation Electrification Blueprint, a first of its kind, comprehensive City-wide plan that outlines how the City will move toward a clean and equitable transportation system. 

Seattle’s Transportation Electrification Blueprint is a comprehensive City-wide plan that outlines how the City will move toward a clean and equitable transportation system in order to reduce climate emissions and air pollution, increase electric mobility options, and create a pipeline of green jobs and workforce diversity.  

“Seattle’s Transportation Electrification Blueprint is a comprehensive, cross-cutting effort of multiple city departments working together to set ambitious 2030 policy goals and near-term actions to electrify Seattle’s transportation system. This bold plan is a model for cities across the nation to follow.” 

Amanda Eaken, NRDC, American Cities Climate Challenge

This effort was co-led by the Office of Sustainability and Environment, Seattle City Light, Seattle Department of Transportation and the Office of Economic Development to incorporate a wide range of expertise in climate policy, innovation, infrastructure, transit, mobility, economic development and workforce development. 

The Transportation Electrification Blueprint calls for the City to take immediate action to plan for the policy changes, infrastructure investments, and partnerships that will be required to meet these ambitious 2030 goals for the City: 

100 Percent of Shared Mobility is Zero Emissions 
As shared mobility services like bikes, scooters, taxis, Uber, Lyft, carshare services and others continue to expand in Seattle, the City will ensure those options are electric and emissions free. 

90 Percent of All Personal Trips are Zero Emissions 
To reach our climate goals, by 2030 nine out of ten trips must be taken by walking, biking, electric transit or in an electric vehicle (or avoided all together).  

30 Percent of Goods Delivery is Zero Emissions 
As more and more of the goods we buy and the food we eat are purchased online, we are seeing growing congestion and pollution from transportation. This goal is aimed to spur the transition of private fleets to EVs, following the same goal for personal vehicles, over the next 10 years.  

100 percent of City Fleet is fossil-fuel free (Executive Order 2018-02) 
Continuing to lead by example, Seattle will operate a large municipal fleet with zero fossil fuels by 2030.  

One or more ‘Green & Healthy Streets’ in Seattle  
Seattle will ensure a major area of our city will have zero emissions from transportation including streets or blocks that are closed to cars and promote walking, biking, electrified transit, and electric goods delivery and services. 

Electrical infrastructure required to stay ahead of Transportation Electrification adoption is installed and operational.  
Infrastructure investments will enable a rapid transition to an electrified transportation system. Seattle City Light will work strategically to make sure the grid is reliable and built out to enable rapid adoption for emerging electric transportation technologies and vehicles. 

This work included consulting with the Environmental Justice Committee, community leaders, and is centered on community-identified priorities of expanding electric transit and mobility options, making charging more reliable and accessible, and connecting workforce opportunities to communities who need them the most. 

“Since 2018, the Environmental Coalition of South Seattle has partnered with the City of Seattle on several projects to gather input from various communities on transportation electrification. We are thrilled that our community based participatory research provided the framework for Seattle’s Transportation Electrification Blueprint to center community identified priorities. Specifically, increasing electric transit and mobility options, making EVs and charging more accessible and connecting related job opportunities to residents who need them the most. We look forward to continuing this partnership as the City works to implement the Blueprint and loop back with communities to let them know their voices have been heard and how their feedback is being actioned.” 

Jose Chi, Environmental Coalition of South Seattle Project Manager & Environmental Justice Committee Member 

Seattle’s Transportation Electrification Blueprint is an opportunity to build on past successes and lessons learned to provide economic and health benefits to traditionally underserved communities through increased mobility options, reducing fuel and maintenance costs, mitigating climate change and improving air quality.  

 “The City of Seattle refuse contract and climate strategy enabled Recology to purchase two of the first all-electric Class 8, rear-load garbage/recycling collection trucks in North America. With Seattle leading the way, other cities are eager to follow and provide their residents with quiet trash service and clean air. We look forward to supporting near term actions outlined in Seattle’s Transportation Electrification Blueprint, specifically working with the City on infrastructure incentives and policies needed to advance electrification of municipal waste fleets in Seattle and beyond.” 

Derek Ruckman, Vice President, Recology  

Seattle’s reliance on cars and trucks is not only increasing congestion and hazardous air and water pollution, but it is also the number one source of greenhouse gas emissions in Seattle – all of which disproportionately harm our Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities. While the City is committed to reducing car trips and the need for car ownership, these efforts alone are not enough to meet our climate goals – we must electrify everything that moves people, goods, and services in and around Seattle. Right now, as our city and residents recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, we have the opportunity to build our city back better to prioritize our residents’ health, safety, and quality of life. 

Seattle has a vision for a fossil-fuel free future, where the air is clean and our communities thrive. People will take electric buses, ferries, or light rail to work, shopping and other destinations. A robust bike lane network will make it easy for to use bikes, e-scooters, or walk. Ships at port are plugged in, every package delivered to your doorstep comes on an electric van, truck or e-bike. Silent, clean, electric trash and utility trucks will service neighborhoods. This is a future we all deserve, and through this Transportation Electrification Blueprint, we’re ready to get to work. 

OSE Celebrates Black History Month

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February is Black History Month. In the spirit of celebrating Black excellence and brilliance, and in service to the expansion of our minds to learn from Black thought leaders in the environmental and climate movement, staff at the Office of Sustainability pulled together a reading list highlighting Black leaders at the intersections of environmental justice, climate change, food justice, outdoor recreation, sustainability and more.

Black excellence should be celebrated every day. We hope that elevating these writers can help us expand the canon of “must read” works that guide us as public servants in our mission to support healthy people and planet.

Emergent Strategy:  Shaping Change, Changing Worlds
By Adrienne Maree Brown

Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors
By Dr. Carolyn Finney

The Combahee River Collective Statement
By the Combahee River Collective

Toxic Communities: Environmental Racism, Industrial Pollution and Residential Mobility
By Dr. Dorceta Taylor

Just Sustainabilities: Policy, Planning and Practice
By Dr. Julian Agyeman

The Wrong Complexion for Protection: How the Government Response to Disaster Endangers the African American Community
By Dr. Robert Bullard

Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class and Environmental Quality
By Dr. Robert Bullard

Environmental Health and Racial Equity in the United States
By Dr. Robert Bullard, Dr. Glenn Johnson, and Angel O. Torres

All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis
Edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katherine K. Wilkinson

The Home Place: A Memoir of a Colored Man’s Affair with Nature
By J. Drew Lanham

Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land
By Leah Penniman

The Fifth Season
By N.K. Jemisin

The Adventure Gap: Changing the Face of the Outdoors
By James Edward Mills

Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry
By Camille T. Dungy

Freedom Farmers: Agricultural Resistance and the Black Freedom Movement 
By Monica M. White

The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation
By Anna Malaika Tubbs

Earthseed Series
By Octavia Butler

How to be an Antiracist
By Ibram X. Kendi

The Case for Reparations
By Ta Nehisi-Coates

Mayor Durkan Signs Legislation Making Seattle’s Building Energy Code One of Strongest on Climate in the Nation

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Updates to energy code would require all new commercial and large multifamily buildings to use clean electricity for space and water heating and maximize building efficiency and on site renewables

On Monday, February 8, Mayor Jenny A. Durkan signed into law new updates to Seattle’s building energy code, which will eliminate fossil fuels for most space and water heating, increase energy efficiency, and improve access to onsite renewables like solar. After transmitting to City Council in December 2020, Seattle City Council voted unanimously to pass the proposed updates on February 1. The code covers all new commercial buildings and large multifamily buildings above three stories and will go into effect on March 15.  

“Burning fossil fuels pollutes the air we breathe both indoors and out, especially for children, seniors, and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities. Seattle’s buildings are one of the largest and fastest growing source of this pollution,” said Mayor Jenny A. Durkan. “Seattle’s energy code is not only among the strongest in the nation, it prioritizes protecting the health of our most impacted populations and is a critical mechanism to support our City’s transition to a clean energy future.”  

Building energy use is responsible for more than one-third of Seattle’s overall greenhouse gas emissions, with 86% of these building sector emissions resulting directly from fracked gas. Without the code changes, the City expects that greenhouse gas emissions from buildings would be up to 10% higher by 2050.  

“Seattle’s energy code update will continue the city’s longstanding place as one of the strongest in the nation for energy efficiency,” said Nathan Torgelson, Director of the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections. “We expect these code changes to result in cleaner and more efficient buildings, making this a better overall investment for building owners and a healthier and more comfortable environment for people living and working in these buildings.” 

The energy code updates do not apply to single family homes or low-rise multifamily homes, as the state prohibits city amendments to the residential energy code. Key changes for commercial and large multifamily buildings through the new code include:  

  • Eliminates all gas and most electric resistance space heating systems  
  • Eliminates gas water heating in large multifamily buildings and hotels  
  • Improves building exteriors to improve energy efficiency and comfort  
  • Creates more opportunities for solar power  
  • Requires electrical infrastructure necessary for future conversion of any gas appliances in multifamily buildings 

The final updates resulted from months of stakeholder engagement with the City’s Department of Construction and Inspections and Office of Sustainability and Environment. A broad coalition of environmental advocates, labor, public health, and affordable housing advocates came together and spoke to the benefits these updates will bring at a series of council hearings in late January.  

“The updates to the Seattle Energy Code are a prime example of how we can confront the climate crisis while creating good-paying union jobs and boosting our local economy” said Nicole Grant, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of MLK Labor. “As an electrician, I know how much work can be done to make buildings more efficient. Starting this work now will pay off 10-fold down the road.”  

“While its no longer possible to legitimately deny that we have an affordable housing crisis, it becomes hard to address this challenge if we don’t have healthy communities within which to make those homes real” said Marty Kooistra, Executive Director, Housing Development Consortium. “Simply stated, we have to care about our planet and this action on energy code is one more step in our journey to get us to achieving stewardship of our collective home for future generations.”  

Updating the commercial building energy code is one of multiple strategies the City is pursuing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the buildings sector. Since 2017, the City has helped approximately 600 households convert from dirty, inefficient heating oil to clean, energy-efficient heat pumps, with the goal of eliminating heating oil use by 2028. The City also requires Building Tune-Ups to help building owners find operational efficiencies and low- and no-cost fixes that improve building performance and reduce building energy use 10-15% on average. Seattle’s largest buildings have completed 450 tune-ups to date, reducing greenhouse gas emissions across the city and saving money on their energy bills. 

“The buildings built today will last generations. Strengthening our energy code means new buildings will be efficient and climate resilient from the start and avoid costly retrofits” said Amy Wheeless, Senior Policy Associate at the NW Energy Coalition and Co-Chair of Shift Zero. “Seattle is leading the way for the Northwest, and we look forward to even more action on climate policies.”  

The City of Seattle is receiving technical support in developing the energy code from the Bloomberg Philanthropies American Cities Climate Challenge. Seattle is one of 25 cities participating in the Climate Challenge, a program to significantly deepen and accelerate their efforts to tackle climate change and promote a sustainable future for their residents.  

“Mayor Durkan and Seattle’s City Council have demonstrated tremendous leadership today in the fight against climate change,” said Kelly Shultz, program lead for the American Cities Climate Challenge at Bloomberg Philanthropies. “Reducing the use of fossil fuels in buildings doesn’t just reduce emissions, it also improves air quality and lowers energy bills, which is important for all residents and particularly low-income communities who are hardest hit by climate and health risks. Through the American Cities Climate Challenge, Bloomberg Philanthropies is proud to support cities like Seattle in implementing effective and innovative climate change solutions that are keeping communities on track to offer a cleaner, healthier, and more equitable future. ”  

“Seattle is taking a big step forward in demonstrating how cities can lead the transition to pollution-free buildings,” said Elizabeth Stampe, a city strategist with the Bloomberg Philanthropies American Cities Climate Challenge. “By powering new commercial buildings and large apartment and condo complexes with efficient appliances that run on clean electricity, we can reduce air pollution and utility bills at the same time. Seattle’s climate leadership will hopefully inspire more cities to make the switch from polluting fossil gas to efficient, electric buildings that are healthier, safer, and more affordable.”  For more information about the energy code updates, including the code language, visit the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections energy code web page.

2018 Building Energy Performance Data Available

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Seattle’s Energy Benchmarking Ordinance directs the City to annually share building-specific data with the public beginning with 2015 data. Building data is now available online for 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. 

  • Find additional information on data transparency and summary data tables here. 
  • Explore the 2015-2018 data on our data visualization site here. 

WA Ranked 3rd Nationwide for LEED Buildings — Seattle’s Fire Station 22 Featured as a Notable Project

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Earlier this year, the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) announced the top 10 states in the nation for LEED Green Buildings in 2018, and Washington state took the 3rd spot – the highest in its history – behind Illinois (1st) and Massachusetts. States were ranked based on the square footage of LEED buildings certified per capita. Seattle’s Roanoke neighborhood Fire Station 22, a LEED Platinum facility, was featured as the state’s notable project in USGBC’s announcement. 

Seattle Fire Station 22

Seattle’s Sustainable Buildings & Sites Policy requires that all City-owned properties meet the LEED Gold standard along with other key performance requirements for energy, water, waste, and transportation. Fire Station 22 is one of over 40 facilities that were LEED-certified under the policy since its inception in 2000 and is one of only three City facilities, all fire stations, to have attained a LEED Platinum rating.   

Fire stations tend to be some of the most energy- and water-intensive facilities out there due to the nature of their critical, round-the-clock provision of emergency services. Creative solutions were, therefore, required to meet the already challenging LEED Platinum threshold. Here are some highlights from the Fire Station 22 project’s online LEED profile page: 

  • 10,150 square feet, certified in April 2018 
  • High-performance building envelope with highly efficient mechanical & plumbing systems 
  • 15-foot deep roof overhang that increases stormwater collection, houses a PV array, and provides solar shading 
  • 100% of water used for irrigation and 60% of water used for toilet flushing and truck washing comes from harvested rainwater 
  • Circadian lighting strategies to reduce energy use and assist with sleep rhythms for firefighters 

Thanks to these strategies, Fire Station 22 is expected to exceed the energy performance required by Seattle’s sustainable building policy by 23%.  Congratulations to the design and construction teams led by Weinstein A+U and Par-tech Construction and to the Capital Development and Construction Management division in the City’s Department of Finance and Administrative Services, including Division Director Dove Alberg, Fire Facilities and Emergency Response Levy Program Manager David Kunselman and Fire Station 22 Project Manager David Jackson!