Grc report plan-wide
- 1. Plan-Wide01 04 01 Recommendations 04 02 05 02 05 Introduction 03 06 The Green Ribbon Commission developed plan-wide recommendations that are broad in scale and cut across detailed climate action planning sectors. Successful climate action planning 03 06 will require integration of the eight plan-wide recommendations detailed below, as well as the sector recommendations detailed in the next chapter. Recommendations 1. Take Bold Action Climate change is a global challenge of sobering magnitude and urgency. Inaction has profound implications for future generations who will be living with the consequences of our choices. While this challenge can feel daunting, Seattle more than most cities is well prepared to rise to the challenge. We have the passion, the leadership, and the creative spirit to develop innovative solutions to difficult problems. Seattle’s ingenuity and decades of commitment to environmental stewardship can be seen in, among other things, our leading recycling rates, enviable success with water and energy conservation, and carbon-neutral electricity. Seattle is also a center for innovation that attracts companies committed to creative problem solving and technology-driven solutions. As a thriving center of innovation, Seattle is the ideal place to prove new ideas and scale up technologies to have local and national impact. As a prosperous city with these advantages, Seattle has the opportunity and responsibility to be bold and take risks in charting a path forward that will contribute to a growing body of experience that informs climate actions across the nation and the world. • Seattle should be bold in pursuing solutions to climate change, by embracing its legacy of environmental leadership and taking risks to test new policies and technologies. • Seattle should be the national proving ground The Seattle 2030 District is an interdisciplinary public-private collaborative working to create a for important advancements in climate action, groundbreaking high-performance building district even if the local reductions in greenhouse in downtown Seattle. It seeks to develop realistic, measurable, and innovative strategies to assist gas emissions are limited because of our district property owners, managers, and tenants in comparatively clean energy. meeting aggressive goals that reduce environmental impacts of facility construction and operations. grc letter executive summary background plan-wide sector Green Ribbon Commission Recommendations 18
- 2. 1 04 Plan-Wide Recommendations 2 05 2. Create a Great Place to Live by Taking Climate Action 3 06 Too often the conversation about climate action has focused narrowly on reducing greenhouse gases or pitted the environment against our economy. Yet a comprehensive look at the benefits of climate action in building energy, transportation, waste and climate preparedness show that the community benefits can be much greater than the number of metric tons of carbon dioxide reduced, and in fact also can provide economic opportunity, promote social equity, and create great neighborhoods. For example, reducing vehicle trips by providing transportation choices reduces air pollution and improves health outcomes; reducing energy use through building upgrades creates economic opportunity and reduces energy costs; and creating complete neighborhoods improves connectedness and enhances our sense of community. • Design climate actions not only as emissions reduction efforts, but also as actions that build a vibrant, prosperous and equitable city. Westlake Streetcar Plaza/McGraw Square Groundbreaking (Photo: Seattle Dept. of Transportation) grc letter executive summary background plan-wide sector 19 Green Ribbon Commission Recommendations
- 3. Plan-Wide01 04 01 Recommendations 04 02 05 02 05 03 06 03 06 Rooftop Urban Garden (Photo: GGLO) 3. Embed Equity in Every Solution No city can be a leader on climate change without advancing social and racial equity. The benefits of climate action must be widely shared in the community. To ensure strategies promote shared prosperity, it is essential that race and social equity goals are fully embedded in climate action design and implementation. No solution should require that the City’s climate goals or equity goals be advanced at the expense of the other. All residents should have the opportunity to participate in the planning for and take advantage of the benefits of climate action. Enhancing housing affordability, improving access to a range of transportation choices, reducing the cost of energy-efficiency upgrades and bills, increasing job training and opportunities for all are outcomes that can be realized if we consider equity as fundamental to the design of climate strategies. • Embed affordability and equity into all aspects of policy and program design so that the story of climate action is also one of enhancing equity. grc letter executive summary background plan-wide sector Green Ribbon Commission Recommendations 20
- 4. 1 04 Plan-Wide Recommendations 2 05 4. Use Systems Thinking to Design Solutions 3 06 Often the most effective and innovative solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions can be found at the nexus of multiple problems. Land use, transportation and the built environment operate as a complex and interdependent system. By taking an integrated approach across disciples we can better understand the challenges and design more effective climate action strategies that achieve multiple community goals. • Take a coordinated and integrative approach that crosses disciplines and recognizes the interactions between complex urban systems when designing climate actions. 5. Build Support for Climate Action The actions necessary to move Seattle toward a climate-friendly future that is healthy, safe and prosperous require deep and sustained commitment by the community. The connections between climate action and broader community values must be understood and consistently communicated. • Conduct research to better understand residents’ values to develop a compelling narrative that captures the imagination and is used consistently and broadly by our civic leaders and a new cadre of spokespeople. 6. Prioritize Implementation of the Climate Action Plan and Related Plans The Seattle Climate Action Plan will lay out a bold path forward to becoming a carbon neutral city. In addition, the City has a number of sector-specific plans that include additional actions and important project-level detail, such as the transportation modal plans, utility resource and conservation plans, land use and neighborhood plans, and sustainable building plans. The Climate Action Plan, together with the sector-specific plans, will create a state- of-the art road map (or bike path) for creating a low carbon city. Nevertheless, the City’s ambitious goals and impressive plans are only as good as their implementation. • To support implementation of the Climate Action Plan and foster accountability, the City should maintain an ongoing community oversight committee composed of environmental, community, and business leaders. Installing a Green Bicycle Lane (Photo: Seattle Dept. of Transportation) grc letter executive summary background plan-wide sector 21 Green Ribbon Commission Recommendations
- 5. Plan-Wide01 04 01 Recommendations 04 02 05 02 05 7. Secure Funding for Implementation 03 06 While the City can make progress on implementation with existing resources and by realizing increasing efficiencies, the plans cannot be fully implemented without additional investment by 03 06 the public and private sectors. There are a range of funding options including property taxes, user fees, pollution fees, and innovative public/private partnerships. Elected officials should evaluate the pros and cons of the various funding options, including the equity impacts, and move forward the best options to meet the plan goals. • Provide the necessary leadership and funding to fully implement the strategies and actions outlined in the Climate Action Plan and the related sector plans. 8. Put a Price on Climate Pollution Five years of a carbon tax in British Columbia has demonstrated that an economy can thrive with a price on climate pollution; emissions have fallen while the province has outperformed the rest of Canada in economic growth. California, too, has taken the lead on carbon pricing by creating create a cap-and-trade program that ramps up next year. Washington should follow the lead of our neighbors by putting a price on climate pollution, which will incentivize emissions reductions, generate revenue to support climate action and other state needs, and support the transition to a clean energy economy. • Encourage the State to evaluate what carbon pricing mechanism (carbon tax, cap-and- trade program, or other) will work best in Washington, including how to mitigate the regressive impacts of the selected pricing mechanism. • Actively work to build community support for carbon pricing in Washington State. grc letter executive summary background plan-wide sector Green Ribbon Commission Recommendations 22