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A MOTION relating to the 2020 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, 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, the King County council passed Motion 15620 on March 10, 2020, that extended the transmittal date for all work products by sixty days in consideration of the impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic and statewide mitigation efforts, 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 most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report recommended 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, 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 2020 Strategic Climate Action Plan charts a five-year blueprint 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 2020 King County 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 2020 Strategic Climate 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, in 2014, King County and thirty-nine cities adopted shared regional targets to reduce countywide greenhouse gas emissions twenty-five percent by 2020, fifty percent by 2030 and eighty percent by 2050, compared to a 2007 baseline, and

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

                     WHEREAS, in 2019, the King County-Cities Climate Collaboration developed updated pathways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions fifty percent by 2030 and strengthened specific, shared action commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across King County with commitments to work closely with communities and ensure just transitions for workers, and

                     WHEREAS, the 2020 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 2020 Strategic Climate Action Plan is developed with an environmental 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, the 2020 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 fifty percent by 2025, and eighty percent by 2030, compared to a 2007 baseline as developed in the King County Carbon Neutral Implementation Plan, and

                     WHEREAS, with this motion, the executive has transmitted to the council, as part of the 2020 Strategic Climate Action Plan, the biennial report as called for in K.C.C. 18.50.010, and

                     WHEREAS, with this motion, the 2020 Strategic Climate Action Plan responds to Ordinance 19041, enacted in December 2019, which calls for the development of an initial green jobs strategy, in consultation with community partners, environmental justice and climate justice organizations, tribes, local governments and regional groups, education, businesses, labor and workforce development organizations, and

                     WHEREAS, with this motion, the 2020 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 and equity community task force, and codevelopment of the Sustainable and Resilient Frontline Communities section by the task force, and

                     WHEREAS, the King County Strategic Climate Action Plan will next be updated in 2025, 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 2020 King County Strategic Climate Action Plan, which is Attachment A to this motion, dated May 4, 2021, 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.  The Sustainable and Resilient Frontline Communities section of the 2020 Strategic Climate Action Plan is the first community-driven plan for climate justice co-developed with King County.  The climate equity community task force contributed its expertise, insights and tremendous investment of time to develop the plan.  Consistent with its Equity and Social Justice Strategic Plan and commitment to environmental justice called for in Ordinance 19041, King County will strengthen its engagement with communities facing the greatest impacts from climate change and create opportunities for shared leadership and decision-making to develop solutions and prioritize investments in the 2020 Strategic Climate Action Plan update.

                     C.  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.

                     D.  Implementation of the 2020 Strategic Climate Action Plan will require resources.  Any funding requests are subject to approval through the county budget process.

                     E.  The council requests that, no later than December 31, 2021, the executive transmit to the council a report on public health-related climate action needs, along with a motion acknowledging receipt of the report.  The report should include, but not be limited to, information on the staffing and budgetary resources needed to implement the community health actions and strategies in the Blueprint for Addressing Climate Change and Health report, the Community Health and Emergency Preparedness focus area of the SCAP and the Preparing for Climate Change section of the SCAP, and potential options for addressing these needs.  The report and accompanying motion should be filed in the form of a paper original and an electronic copy with the clerk of the council, who will retain the original and provide an electronic copy to all councilmembers, the council chief of staff and the lead staff to the mobility and environment committee or its successor.

                     F.  The council requests that, as part of the next biennial progress report required in K.C.C. 18.50.010, the executive include an analysis of the effectiveness of the county’s strategies and actions in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and proposals to continually improve the program to most effectively and quickly achieve the goals of the SCAP, including maximum greenhouse gas emissions reductions.  The analysis and proposals should include, but not be limited to:

                       1.  Identifying the actions that have reduced greenhouse gas ("GHG") emissions by one percent or greater compared to the 2007 baseline for countywide emissions and for county operations and quantifying the GHG reductions from those actions;

                       2.  Identifying the performance measures in the 2020 SCAP that have not achieved the planned targets, including the reasons for the outcomes and what adjustments could be made to make the actions meet targets or, if the actions seem unlikely to meet targets, what alternative actions should be pursued to make the SCAP more effective; and

                       3.  A proposal of specific outcomes for 2020 to 2025 for measuring and reporting progress in each of the nine pathways identified in the 2020 SCAP for achieving countywide GHG reduction goals and each of the seven pathways identified in the 2020 SCAP for achieving operational GHG reduction goals.  For each outcome, the proposal should include:

                         a.  a                      date for achievement;

                         b.  a description of the specific actions that need to be completed to achieve the outcome by that date;

                         c.  for outcomes to be achieved in 2021 or 2022, the status of progress toward the outcome, a description of the reasons for the status, the amount and type of financial and other investments needed to achieve the outcome, if any, and a proposal for alternative actions or changed emphasis on actions already planned in order to be most effective in meeting future objectives for the pathway.

                     G.  The council acknowledges receipt of the 2015 SCAP Priority Action Progress

report, dated April 8, 2021, which is Attachment B to this ordinance, and was transmitted to fulfill the requirements of K.C.C. 18.50.010.