Drafter

Clerk 06/13/2025

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A MOTION relating to the 2025 Strategic Climate Action Plan, submitted in compliance with K.C.C 18.25.010.

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                     WHEREAS, King County's first Strategic Climate Action Plan was adopted in December 2012, and

                     WHEREAS, the King County executive transmitted an update to the plan in June 2015, which the King County council adopted in November 2015, and

                     WHEREAS, the King County executive transmitted an update to the plan in August 2020, which the King County council adopted in May 2021, and

                     WHEREAS, K.C.C 18.25.010 requires that updates to the plan shall occur at least every five years and that the executive shall transmit updates to the council for adoption by motion, and

                     WHEREAS, with this motion, the executive has transmitted to the council as Attachment A to this motion the updated plan called for in K.C.C 18.25.010, and

                     WHEREAS, climate change is occurring and is a paramount challenge with fundamental and far-reaching consequences that put our people, economy, and environment at risk, and

                     WHEREAS, impacts of a changing climate do not affect all King County residents in the same way.  Experiences will vary based on income, health, age, and place of residence.  Climate change impacts can magnify existing health issues and limited access to resources that are already experienced disproportionally by Black, Indigenous and people of color, and

                     WHEREAS, the 2020 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report stated that measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions must be enacted with greater urgency to avoid long-lasting or irreversible changes to the global climate system, and

                     WHEREAS, the 2023 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report  states that deep, rapid, and sustained mitigation and accelerated implementation of adaptation actions in this decade is needed to reduce projected losses and damages for humans and ecosystems.  Limiting human-caused global warming will require net zero carbon dioxide emissions and further delays in taking action will lock-in changes, reduce feasibility, and increase costs and damages as every increment of global warming will intensify multiple and concurrent hazards in all regions of the world, and

                     WHEREAS, preparing for climate change impacts is also urgently needed given the accelerating pace of climate change and the time required to increase the resilience of communities, infrastructure, and natural systems, and

                     WHEREAS, the 2025 Strategic Climate Action Plan charts a five-year framework for climate action, integrating climate change considerations into all areas of county operations and in our work with King County cities, partners, communities and residents, and

                     WHEREAS, the 2025 Strategic Climate Action Plan identifies countywide and county operations sources of greenhouse gas emissions, and quantifies the emissions reductions from implementing key strategies, and

                     WHEREAS, the 2025 Strategic Climate Action Plan establishes specific goals, strategies, measures, targets and priority actions to reduce countywide sources of emissions fifty percent by 2030, seventy-five percent by 2040, and ninety-five percent by 2050, compared to a 2007 baseline, and

                     WHEREAS, the 2025 Strategic Climate Action Plan establishes specific goals, strategies, measures, targets and priority actions for county services and operations to reduce emissions consistent with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions eighty percent by 2030 and ninety-five percent by 2050, compared to a 2007 baseline, and

                     WHEREAS, the 2025 Strategic Climate Action Plan targets are built in the understanding that climate change is a threat multiplier and creates complex challenges particularly for communities affected by historic and current inequities, and who have limited resources to adapt, and

                     WHEREAS, King County and partners in the King County-Cities Climate Collaboration, comprising twenty-two cities and the Port of Seattle representing eighty-seven percent of the population of the county, are partnering to advance those shared goals, and

                     WHEREAS, the 2025 Strategic Climate Action Plan strengthens the county's commitment to prepare county operations and the community for the impacts of climate change on our infrastructure, natural environment, and health and safety, and

                     WHEREAS, meaningful and equitable progress on climate change requires addressing the impacts of systemic racism and achieving racial justice, and

                     WHEREAS, the 2025 Strategic Climate Action Plan is developed with an environmental and climate justice framework in partnership with frontline communities disproportionately impacted by climate change and in a manner consistent with Ordinance 16948, which establishes the county's fair and just principle, and

                     WHEREAS, with this motion, the 2025 Strategic Climate Action plan responds to Ordinance 19041, which calls for the development of a community-driven strategy to achieve sustainable and resilient communities with the creation of the climate equity community task force, and co-development of the Sustainable and Resilient Frontline Communities section by the task force, and

                     WHEREAS, with this motion, the executive has transmitted to the council, as part of the 2025 Strategic Climate Action Plan, the biennial report as called for in K.C.C. 18.50.010, and

                     WHEREAS, with this motion, the executive has transmitted to council, as part of the 2025 Strategic Climate Action Plan, the 2025 Climate and Workforce Strategy, which is an update to the county's green jobs strategy, and as required by K.C.C. 18.25.010, and

                     WHEREAS, the executive has transmitted to the council, as part of the 2025 Strategic Climate Action Plan, the Wildfire Risk Reduction Strategy, as Appendix F of Attachment A to this motion as called for in Ordinance 19881, Section 337, and

                     WHEREAS, the executive has transmitted to the council, as part of the 2025 Strategic Climate Action Plan, the Extreme Heat Mitigation Strategy, as Appendix E of Attachment A to this motion, which was funded with a FEMA Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities grant and released in 2024, and

                     WHEREAS, the King County Strategic Climate Action Plan will next be updated in 2030, unless an update is needed sooner to respond to changing information about emissions sources, performance relative to targets, new technologies, or a changing regulatory context;

                     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT MOVED by the Council of King County:

                     A.  The 2025 King County Strategic Climate Action Plan, dated June 11, 2025 which is Attachment A to this motion and prepared in compliance with K.C.C. 18.25.010, is hereby adopted as the guiding policy document for King County climate action and its work with partners.

                     B.  King County will continue to work in partnership with other local governments, utilities, and community-based organizations to promote investment, programs and policies that support, promote and incent reductions in countywide greenhouse gas emissions, and prepare our operations and communities for the impacts of climate change.

                     C.  Implementation of the 2025 Strategic Climate Action Plan will require

resources.  Any funding requests are subject to approval through the county budget process.