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A MOTION approving the climate action plan toolkit, a summary of recommendations, a report detailing the outreach and engagement process and feedback received and the plan to distribute and promote the toolkit’s use, as required by Motion 15555, and calling for King County to work in partnerships regarding issues about greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.

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                     WHEREAS, Motion 15555 requires the King County executive to transmit to the King County council the climate action toolkit, a summary of recommendations, a report detailing the outreach and engagement process and feedback received and the plan to distribute and promote the toolkit's use by July 31, 2020, and

                     WHEREAS, the council passed Motion 15620 on March 10, 2020, which 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 attachments to this motion the climate action toolkit, a summary of recommendations, a report detailing outreach and engagement process and feedback received and the plan to distribute and promote the toolkit's use, and

                     WHEREAS, in 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report concluding that global greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by forty-five percent by 2030 to limit global warming to one and one-half degrees Celsius, and

                     WHEREAS, a rise in global temperatures above one and one-half degrees Celsius is projected to irrevocably impact food systems, water supplies, public health, economic growth and natural resources around the globe, and

                     WHEREAS, King County is already experiencing the impacts of climate change with more frequent wildfires, declining snowpack and summer water supplies, rising sea levels, increased flooding and more extreme heat events, and

                     WHEREAS, climate change will disproportionately negatively impact communities of color, those with low incomes and those experiencing historical and current inequities, who have the fewest resources to recover, adapt and thrive in a changing climate, and

                     WHEREAS, in 2014, King County and its thirty nine cities developed countywide, community-scale greenhouse gas emission reduction targets of fifty percent by 2030 and eighty percent by 2050 against a 2007 baseline, and

                     WHEREAS, those targets were formally adopted as countywide planning policies by the King County Growth Management Planning Council in 2014 to guide the comprehensive planning of King County and all cities, and

                     WHEREAS, the King County-Cities Climate Collaboration, a formal but voluntary partnership with membership including King County, sixteen cities and the Port of Seattle, representing eighty percent of the county's population, adopted Joint County-City Climate Commitments in 2014 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across King County consistent with countywide planning policies, and

                     WHEREAS, in 2019, the King County-Cities Climate Collaboration adopted updated Joint Commitments that incorporate the latest climate science, strengthen the partners' commitment to climate justice, expand and extend sector-specific goals and acknowledge that each partner will pursue strategies where action will have the most impact, and

                     WHEREAS, in 2015, King County adopted the Strategic Climate Action Plan, which identifies goals, targets, and priority actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in government operations and at the community scale in transportation and land use, energy efficiency and energy supplies, green building, consumption and materials management, and forests and agriculture sectors, and

                     WHEREAS, successes of the 2015 Strategic Climate Action Plan include increases in renewable electricity supplies, leading the nation in transition to a zero emissions fleet, and launching initiatives to preserve forests and farms in King County, and

                     WHEREAS, to build on the momentum of the 2015 Strategic Climate Action Plan, and to advance the goals of the 2020 Strategic Climate Action Plan, strong coordination with cities, businesses, and residents is necessary, and

                     WHEREAS, King County reports on countywide greenhouse gas emissions every two years, including all emissions released within the county geographic boundary and those emissions associated with the generation of electricity supplied to the county, and

                     WHEREAS, a 2017 greenhouse gas inventory indicates that countywide greenhouse gas emissions have declined eleven percent per capita, and have decreased one and four-tenths percent since 2017 overall, and

                     WHEREAS, King County and its partners, including local governments, businesses and residents, must work together to accelerate the reduction in countywide emissions, and

                     WHEREAS, cities in King County have different greenhouse gas emission profiles as a result of unique land use patterns, population, energy sources, and age of building stock, and

                     WHEREAS, King County is recognized as a leader in climate action and is able to support local governments in reaching countywide emissions reduction goals, and

                     WHEREAS, climate change is a paramount challenge of our generation, requiring immediate and inter-jurisdictional action to sharply reduce countywide greenhouse gas emissions;

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

                     A.  The Climate Action Toolkit, Attachment A to this motion, the summary of recommendations, Attachment B to this motion, the report detailing the outreach and engagement process, Attachment C to this motion, and a plan to distribute and promote the toolkit's use, Attachment D to this motion, are hereby approved.

                     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.

                     C.  King County will continue to work in partnership with frontline communities

to ensure that these communities have the knowledge, skills, resources and capacity to recover, adapt and thrive in a changing climate.