Drafter
Clerk 10/26/2016
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AN ORDINANCE relating to the Strategic Climate Action Plan; amending K.C.C. chapter 18.25, Strategic Climate Action Plan, in accordance with the 2015/2016 Biennial Budget Ordinance, Ordinance 17941, Section 104, Proviso P1, as amended; and amending Ordinance 17270, Section 2, and K.C.C. 18.25.010 and Ordinance 17166, Section 2, as amended, and K.C.C. 18.50.010.
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PREAMBLE:
Climate change is one of the paramount challenges of our generation. King County is already experiencing the impacts of a changing climate: warming temperatures, acidifying marine waters, rising seas, increasing flooding risk, decreasing mountain snowpack, and less water in the summer. Climate change will have long-term consequences for the economy, the environment and public health and safety in King County.
King County has a long record of innovation, leadership and investment in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and preparing for the impacts of climate change. Consideration of climate change impacts and opportunities to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions are deeply embedded throughout the work plans and capital investments of county departments and lines of business. Since 2007, the investments in energy efficiency and changes in operations have reduced normalized building energy use by more than twenty percent, generating over three million dollars in annual savings. King County Metro has pioneered the use of hybrid bus technology, and the county is on track to have an all-hybrid or electric bus fleet by 2018. King County is now producing renewable energy equivalent to more than one hundred percent of total operational energy use, excluding public transit vehicles.
The county's first Strategic Climate Action Plan was adopted in 2012 and updated in 2015, consistent with K.C.C. chapter 18.25. The 2015 update to the Strategic Climate Action Plan maps specific pathways and actions needed to achieve the ambitious countywide climate goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by eighty percent by 2050. It also integrates the county’s energy efficiency and renewable energy commitments and outlines how the county will partner with cities, businesses and the civic sector to lead the nation in demonstrating successful climate solutions.
The 2015 Strategic Climate Action Plan update responds to the 2014 performance audit of the 2012 Strategic Climate Action Plan. The performance audit made four recommendations:
1. Ensure that the 2015 Strategic Climate Action Plan update and its subsequent implementation and monitoring are informed by input from a broad representation of community stakeholders in King County;
2. Establish explicit, and whenever possible, quantifiable connections between the overarching climate goals and specific strategies and actions;
3. Incorporate verifiable economic analysis of the cost-effectiveness of current and potential actions to reach Strategic Climate Action Plan targets; and
4. Ensure there is an effective management structure and sufficient resources in place to conduct the 2015 Strategic Climate Action Plan update.
In the report to the King County council dated August 4, 2015, the auditor noted that "…the county executive provided an effective management structure for strategic planning and that the updated Strategic Climate Action Plan established explicit connections between actions and goals based on rigorous technical analysis. The update has also made substantive progress in strengthening community engagement and cost-effectiveness analysis of climate actions."
The updated 2015 Strategic Climate Action Plan was unanimously adopted by the King County council in November 2015.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. Ordinance 17270, Section 2, and K.C.C. 18.25.010 are each hereby amended to read as follows:
A.1. The executive shall develop a strategic climate action plan ((that uses the King County Strategic Plan 2010-2014, adopted by Ordinance 16897, as the organizing framework. The first strategic climate action plan shall be transmitted by June 29, 2012, with a motion adopting the plan. Given the relatively short timeframe for completion of the initial climate strategic plan, the scope will focus primarily on county operations and activities that the county can influence through its direct operations, and will integrate and refine current policies, plans, interlocal collaborations, and performance measures)) to establish long-term targets and guide actions within county services and operations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to a changing climate, consistent with the King County Strategic Plan. The strategic climate action plan shall include the following:
a. the identification of specific ((objectives)) goals, strategies, measures, targets and priority actions for ((reducing)) county services and operations to reduce emissions ((and mitigating climate impacts)) consistent with the countywide goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions twenty-five percent by 2020, fifty percent by 2030 and eighty percent by 2050, compared to a 2007 baseline. The ((list of strategies shall be sufficiently detailed to provide clear guidance on how King County can directly affect the outcomes of reducing emissions and addressing the impact of climate change in King County)) strategic climate action plan should address five goal areas for reducing greenhouse gas emissions: transportation and land use; building and facilities energy; green building; consumption and materials management, including the environmental purchasing program; and forestry and agriculture. The strategic climate action plan should establish explicit and, whenever possible, quantifiable connections between the overarching climate goals and specific strategies and actions;
b. ((related strategies, program activities and targets the 2010 Energy Plan adopted by Motion 13368, given the highly dependent relationship of reductions in climate pollution of both energy efficiency improvements and the strategic climate action plan)) the current assessment of climate change impacts in King County and identification of goals, strategies, measures, targets and priority actions within county services and county operations to address climate change impacts; ((and))
c. performance measures and related targets for both operational emissions and implementation of priority strategies that advance the strategic climate action plan and provide for assessment of progress relative to overarching climate goals at the community scale; and
d. an assessment of cost effectiveness for key county services and operations building on the pilot cost effectiveness assessment in the 2015 strategic climate action plan update.
2. Consistent with the county's strategic planning cycle, updates will occur at least every five years, unless more frequent updates are needed to respond to changing information about emissions sources, performance relative to targets, new technologies, or a changing regulatory context. The executive shall transmit updates to the strategic climate action plan to the council for adoption by motion.
3. In developing future updates to the ((King County)) strategic climate action plan, the executive shall continue to review climate change-related plans being developed by other municipalities, including the city of Seattle's climate action plan, and identify ((any)) opportunities ((for partnerships with cities or strategies or activities that could be incorporated as part of the King County climate strategic plan)) and strengthen recommendations for partnership with cities, businesses and nonprofit organizations to advance actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for climate change impacts. Future updates shall also continue to strengthen engagement of communities most impacted by climate change, review and address the disproportionate impacts of climate change, and develop solutions in a manner consistent with Ordinance 16948 establishing the county's fair and just principle.
((3.)) 4. The council recognizes that ((the climate change related strategies identified in the King County Strategic Plan 2010-2014 may benefit from revision and thus the strategies identified for the climate action plan transmitted by June 29, 2012,)) science related to climate change and successful climate solutions is evolving, and the strategic climate action plan should build upon and refine the strategies, activities((,)) and performance targets ((identified as part of the King County Strategic Plan 2010-2014)) in accordance with best available science, practices and progress toward emissions reductions targets.
((4. Subsequently, the executive shall transmit an update to the strategic climate action plan by June 29, 2015, for adoption by motion.))
5. Future ((U))updates shall include the requirements of subsection A.1. of this section ((and should also identify community-level actions the county can implement to reduce climate pollution and prepare for the impacts of climate change. Given the strong interdependence between climate emissions and energy use, the King County Energy Plan will be combined and integrated with the 2012 update of the strategic climate action plan.
5. Consistent with the county's strategic planning cycle, updates after 2015 will occur at least every five years, unless more frequent updates are needed to respond to changing information about emissions sources, performance relative to targets, new technologies, or a changing regulatory context)).
6. Progress in achieving strategic climate action plan performance measure targets and accomplishment of priority actions identified in subsection A.1.((c.)) of this section, as well as findings outlining recommendations for changes in policies, priorities and capital investments, shall be reported and transmitted to council ((annually)) biennially. The progress report shall be included as part of the report required in K.C.C. 18.50.010.
B. Future updates to climate-related objectives and strategies in the King County Strategic Plan should be informed by the strategic climate action plan.
C. The executive must transmit the legislation and reports required to be submitted by this section in the form of a paper original and an electronic copy with the clerk of the council, who shall retain the original and provide an electronic copy to all councilmembers, the council chief of staff and the lead staff for the transportation, economy and environment committee or its successor.
SECTION 2. Ordinance 17166, Section 2, as amended, and K.C.C. 18.50.010 are each hereby amended to read as follows:
The executive shall transmit by June 30 of ((each)) every other year a report on the county's major environmental sustainability programs intended to reduce energy use, climate emissions and resource use and prepare for the impacts of climate change, as required in subsections A., B. and C. of this section. The executive shall transmit the report to council, filed in the form of a paper original and an electronic copy with the clerk of the council, who shall retain the original and provide an electronic copy to all councilmembers, the council chief of staff and the lead staff for the transportation economy and environment committee or its successor. ((The report shall cover the climate change, energy, green building and environmental purchasing programs. For each of these programs, the executive shall describe the major accomplishments and include a summary of performance relative to key environmental goals and indicators, challenges and opportunities and recommendations.)) The report shall be structured in a way that links actual performance to established goals and indicators and can ((guide)) inform policy choices, program priorities ((,)) and investments in capital projects. ((The report required in K.C.C. 18.25.010.A.6 shall be included as part of the report.)) The report should address the following:
A. ((The climate change program)) Greenhouse gas emissions reductions, including:
1. Progress towards achieving ((T)) the overarching greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets for both county government operations and the county as a whole ((and actions to reduce operational and community scale greenhouse gas emissions.));
2. ((Specific climate mitigation and adaptation strategies, performance measures and targets)) Progress against targets and measures and updates on the implementation of strategies and priority actions in five goal areas for the strategic climate action plan: transportation and land use; building and facilities energy; green building; consumption and materials management, including the environmental purchasing program; and forestry and agriculture; and
3. ((All)) A summary of major expenses associated with the climate impacts research, community-scale emissions inventories, climate change ((program)) community engagement, and climate change and energy efficiency partnerships with businesses and cities;
((4. A cost-benefit analysis of the program;))
B. ((The energy program, including energy targets established in the 2010 Energy Plan)) An update on implementation of climate preparedness strategies and priority actions recommended in the current strategic climate action plan; and
C. The green building program, ((including:
1. The total number of capital projects for which a division is responsible, and the number of LEED projects and other sustainable development projects, such as historic restoration and adaptive reuse, and their status;
2. The additional costs associated with achieving LEED certification;
3. The total number of non-LEED projects that have completed a sustainable development scorecard;
4. The green strategies employed;
5. The operations and maintenance costs for all completed projects incorporating green building principles and practices and projects incorporating renewable energy or energy efficiency components, as well as the operations and maintenance costs that were projected before construction;
6. The reductions in greenhouse gas emissions;
7. The construction waste recycled; renewable resources used;
8. The green materials used; and
9. The fiscal performance of all projects incorporating green building principles and practices including an accounting of all project costs and benefits that can be quantified, documented and verified; and
D. The environmental purchasing program, including:
1. Quantities, costs and types of recycled and other environmentally preferable products purchased, and quantities of computers and electronics recycled;
2. A summary of savings achieved through the purchase of recycled and other environmentally preferable products;
3. A summary of program promotional efforts; and
4. Recommendations for changes in procurement policies)) as required in K.C.C. 18.17.020.M.1.
SECTION 3. This ordinance amends K.C.C. chapter 18.25, in accordance with
the 2015/2016 Biennial Budget Ordinance, Ordinance 17941, Section 104, Proviso P1, as amended.