Drafter
Clerk 11/03/2015
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AN ORDINANCE relating to the Strategic Climate Action Plan and 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 2010, the investments in energy efficiency and changes in operations have reduced normalized building energy use by more than fifteen 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 fifty-seven percent of its government operational energy needs.
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 ga...
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