Summary

The King County Council on Tuesday approved a Climate Action Toolkit to empower King County cities and towns to take immediate local action on climate change.

Story

The King County Council on Tuesday approved a Climate Action Toolkit to empower King County cities and towns to take immediate local action on climate change. Spurred on by 2019 legislation sponsored by Council Chair Claudia Balducci, the Climate Action Toolkit was created in partnership with cities through the King County-Cities Climate Collaboration and other key stakeholders and will help local jurisdictions prevent some of the worst effects of climate change.

“As we experience the growing impacts of climate change, we will need every level of government to take urgent action to make a difference now and for future generations,” Balducci said. “This toolkit empowers every jurisdiction in King County to maximize efforts to fight climate change. I urge my colleagues in every city in King County to take advantage of this powerful tool to do their part to combat this crisis.”

The Toolkit will allow local jurisdictions to take an inventory of their main drivers of carbon emissions and create tailored climate action plans using a wide range of strategies to reduce communitywide greenhouse gas emissions. The Toolkit is flexible and able to be utilized by cities regardless of where they are in the process of responding to climate change.

The idea for the Climate Action Toolkit was born out of a collaborative process between Council Chair Balducci and community leaders to find ways to act locally to address the global threat of climate change. Balducci amended it in the Mobility and Environment Committee to encourage local jurisdictions to act boldly, to emphasize the importance of education in taking action on climate change, and to keep a focus on buildings and transportation, which will comprise the bulk of carbon emissions for many cities.