Select Committee on Climate Action 11/29/23

Thank you.

Good morning.

The November 29th, 2023 meeting of the 2023 Select Committee on Climate Action will come to order.

It is 9.30 a.m.

I'm Lisa Herbold, chair of the committee.

Will the clerk please call the roll?

Councilmember Lewis.

Present.

Councilmember Morales.

Present.

Councilmember Mosqueda.

Present.

Council Member Nelson.

Present.

Council Member Peterson.

Here.

Council Member Strauss.

Here.

Present.

Vice Chair and Council President Juarez.

Here.

Chair Herbold.

Here.

Council Member Swan is excused, eight present.

Thank you so much.

On today's agenda, we will be hearing a briefing on Council Bill 120718 to implement building emissions performance standards for large buildings in Seattle.

We'll move forward to approve our agenda for our committee meeting today.

If there is no objection, today's committee agenda will be adopted.

Seeing no objection, hearing no objection, today's agenda is adopted.

We will now transition into public comment.

I will moderate the public comment period in the following manner.

Each speaker will be given one minute to speak.

I will alternate between virtual and in-person public commenters, starting with the in-person public commenters.

For in-person public commenters, please step up to the microphones.

When you hear me call your name, there are microphones on both sides of the room, and I'm gonna call names two at a time.

I will call on each speaker by name and in the order which they have registered on the council website and the sign-in form.

If you've not yet registered to speak, but you would like to do so, you can still sign up before the end of the public comment session.

When I call on a speaker's name, if you are using the virtual testifying option, you will hear a prompt.

And once you've heard that prompt, we ask that you press star six in order to unmute yourself.

We also ask that you begin speaking by first stating your name in the item which you are addressing.

Speakers will hear a chime when there's 10 seconds left on their allotted time.

And once the speaker hears that chime, we ask that you begin to wrap up your public comments.

If speakers do not end their comments at the end of the allotted time provided, the speaker's mic will be muted after 10 seconds to allow us to hear from the next speaker.

Once you've completed your public comment, we ask that you please disconnect from the line.

Of course, encourage you to continue following the meeting, but we ask that you do so via either the Seattle channel or the listening options listed on the agenda.

We've got 36 people signed up for public comment.

12 of those individuals are signed up to speak virtually and 15 in person.

We will start with the first five in-person speakers, starting with Wendy Krakauer, followed by Bill Roach.

Good morning.

My name is Wendy Krakauer.

I'm here to speak on behalf of the BEPS policy.

I'm a grandmother who worries that climate change will destroy my grandkids' life in the Pacific Northwest as we know it.

To alleviate my fears, I urge the Council to adopt the BEPS policy which the City has been working on for over two years.

As we all know, those of us who are present in the room, buildings are the fastest growing source of carbon emissions in Washington State.

Given the long range timetable built into the proposed policy, we can't afford to keep fine tuning BEPS.

We need to enact it now.

The benefits of this policy in terms of health, the economy, and climate change are huge, not just for my grandchildren, but for all residents of Seattle.

Please enact this policy now.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Bill Roach, followed by Mary Lou Dickerson.

Mary Lou, I'm sorry I would have called on you first.

I missed your name.

Thank you.

Good morning.

I'm Bill Roach, a resident of Horizon House, a 500-resident senior community on First Hill.

We live in an 800,000-square-foot campus, which will be affected by this proposed policy.

I represent a 30-member resident environment committee, and we wholeheartedly support the proposed policy.

We are working with our administration to make Horizon House carbon neutral by 2032. This policy enables us to achieve much more than the aspirational goal.

It sets achievable step-by-step actions to achieve carbon neutrality and spur us to reach carbon zero by 2040 in Horizon House.

We are particularly encouraged that the city has developed a final consensus policy by working with both business owners and or environmental organizations.

We urge your passage of this critical policy without amendment to combat climate change.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Mary Lou Dickerson, and Mary Lou will be followed by Rachel Kohler.

I need to be taller.

Is this on?

Good morning.

I'm Mary Lou Dickerson, former state representative, and I'm here testifying on behalf of Third Act Washington.

and I'm testifying just to make it clear, absolutely in support of this bill.

We believe the bill is an important step in the reduction of fossil fuels in Seattle.

It provides a template also that can be used by other cities in our state and across the country.

We all know that the clock is ticking in our ability to reduce fossil fuel emissions and that we have precious little time to significantly reduce them.

The increasing fires and smoke in our state are frightening reminders of just...

the climate crisis is.

We support this legislation, and I will give you recommendations offline because I see that my time is up.

I tried to talk really fast.

Thank you very much.

Wonderful to see you.

Next speaker is Rachel Kohler, and Rachel will be followed by Rosemary Sweeney.

Good morning.

I'm Rachel Kohler, managing director of Shift Zero, an alliance of over 50 green building, energy efficiency, affordable housing, and climate action businesses and organizations.

Together we work to advance zero carbon buildings for all in Washington state.

Fighting climate change means taking serious steps to reduce carbon emissions generated by buildings.

And this is why Shift Zero members are in strong support of Seattle's building emissions performance standards.

BEPS provides a practical framework to address pollution from existing buildings and was developed with extensive stakeholder engagement, including many of our members.

It's an essential tool driving continuous long term improvement in our buildings transitioning away from fossil fuels to clean efficient electric heating and hot water systems in our buildings and that will benefit our communities by protecting both health and climate.

We urge you to pass BEPS and our members look forward to continued partnership with the city to ensure equitable implementation.

Thank you so much.

Next, we have Rosemary Sweeney.

And after Rosemary, we'll go back up to the virtual testifiers.

And so after Rosemary, we'll start with Francesca Holm.

Hi, my name is Rosemary Sweeney.

I'm speaking on my own behalf and on behalf of my children and their children.

I'm very concerned about the climate emergency that we are seeing the evidence of worldwide.

And I know that building emissions make up a very substantial part of the total greenhouse emissions in Seattle.

And therefore, in my view, it is really vital to start cutting down these emissions as soon as possible.

As you know, timing is very critical.

And so, therefore, I just really beg you guys to pass the building emissions performance standard.

I think it's a no-brainer.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Francesca Holm, and Francesca will be followed by Stephen Haggerty.

Hi, my name is Francesca Holm, and I'm from District 3. And I'm here today to ask you to pass the Building Emissions Performance Standards Policy without delay.

I'm a public health professional, so I know just how quickly our climate crisis is also becoming a health crisis.

With this policy, we have a unique opportunity to reduce exposure to harmful pollutants from gas-burning stoves as we electrify our buildings.

And we have a critical opportunity to improve our health in the long term by doing our part to reduce our carbon emissions, which will help prevent the heat waves and wildfire smoke that we have seen in recent years from getting worse.

I'm also a mother.

My daughter is six years old.

And I need to know that we as a city will stand up for her future when it counts.

With the building emissions performance standards policy on the table, this is one of those moments when what we do counts.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Stephen Haggerty, and Stephen will be followed by Brian DeHart.

Hi, I'm Stephen Haggerty.

I'm a Seattle resident.

I also organize the 350 Seattle.

I'm speaking today in favor of passing the BEPS policy as written.

I'm a relatively new Seattle resident, and I was drawn to move to Seattle for a deep cultural commitment to environmental consciousness, and it's flushed parks for people and nature to thrive.

I also volunteer in environmental...

Education, helping connect our city's families to the environment.

I care a lot about our city's legacy and what we teach our next generation.

I came here today to invite you to follow in that spirit and heart.

Helping pass this policy to start will not only help mitigate impacts of climate change, but serve as a big opportunity to orient our city into a more positive direction and work towards a path where we serve as a role model for other cities.

Furthermore, the more we start here, the more we scale outward through our ripples.

The stronger our standards here, the stronger the incentive for industry regionally to switch to electric power.

Please join me in building a legacy for the Emerald City.

I can be proud to teach our grandchildren, starting with passing BEPS today.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Brian DeHart, but Brian is showing as not present.

So we'll move down to the next speaker.

We've got Elena Killeen, and Elena will be followed by Peter Hasegawa.

Elena.

Elena.

Hi, my name is Alana and I live in D6.

Actually, I won't be living in D6 for a while as my partner and I are currently in the process of moving to New York for a few years.

This will be my first time living away from home and so I'm reflecting on what it means to be from Seattle and how others will perceive the place that I love.

While Seattle means driving a Subaru or in my case, a bicycle, wearing Patagonia to a nice dinner and of course, packing out your beer cans when your Airbnb doesn't have recycling.

Does that mean Seattle is a green city?

I so badly want that perception of Seattle as a place where people love the earth to translate into real green leadership and effective policy.

So please pass this policy now.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Peter Hasegawa and Peter will be followed by Dakota Rash.

Good morning.

Hi, I'm Peter Hasegawa, I use he and him pronouns, and I'm speaking today as a co-chair of the Green New Deal Oversight Board.

I would like to thank the Office of Sustainability and Environment, particularly Director Farrell, for leading the way on depth and involving the Green New Deal Oversight Board at every step of the process.

The Green New Deal Oversight Board is tasked with providing guidance and support to city departments to eliminate carbon pollution by 2030 while centering climate and environmental justice priorities as we work together to advance the Green New Deal for Seattle.

BEPS advances Seattle's Green New Deal by creating economic opportunities.

BEPS is estimated to generate 150 to 270 annual jobs in the clean energy economy, increasing demand for electricians and heating and cooling refrigerant workers, while transitioning existing workers over time to a clean energy future and providing an expanded career path for women and BIPOC workers and women and minority-owned businesses.

City action and investment today includes $1 million a year for pre-apprenticeship and job readiness programs for clean energy careers and many other steps.

The city has the infrastructure and programming to support the landmark legislation in a way that promotes the transition to an inclusive low-carbon economy.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Dakota Rash, and Dakota will be followed by Charles Lampin.

Dakota, can you hit star six so we can hear you, please?

There you go.

Hello.

Sorry, I didn't know there was some hiccup there.

Good morning.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment.

My name is Dakota Rash.

And I'm here today to urge you all to pass the best policy as written.

I live in Washington, and I've lived in Washington my whole life.

I love this state for its access to water, mountains, deep forests, and lively urban life.

And I also, frankly, love the rain.

So it's been deeply distressing to see this place that I love start to transform these past few years of smoke and extreme heat and Western Red Cedars dying and people I know who have been physically impacted by these things.

It's all very clear signs that we are not headed down the right path.

Even in this relatively mild year here in Washington, the earth just passed two degrees of warming for the first time in recorded history.

So today I urge you all to keep our hope alive.

close the implementation gap by doing more than making goals and promises.

You have a chance here to enact policy that will have an actual impact.

So please pass it as written.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Charles Lampum and Charles will be followed by Jess Wallach.

Good morning, City Council and staff and everyone else listening to this meeting.

My name is Charlie LaFam.

I'm the Communications Director for MLK Labor, and I'm also a rank-and-file member of OPEIU's local aid.

MLK Labor, as many of you know, represents more than 150 unions across many industries in King County, and together we represent more than 100,000 union workers.

We support the Building Emissions Performance Standards policy because This is it's the exact type of policy that battles the climate crisis while at the same time supports good jobs.

And this is it's absolutely key that it does both of these things, because what we've seen over the years is that climate policy really does not work unless it is centered around the needs of working people and the people who are most vulnerable.

And so that's why this policy is great.

We thank Mayor Harrell for his leadership and we look forward to seeing this passed into law.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Jess Wallach and Jess will be followed by Deepa Sivaran.

Good morning council members and staff.

My name is Jess Wallach and I'm a campaign director with 350 Seattle.

In this year of organizing for BEPS we've heard from parents whose kids were hospitalized in the heat dome.

From workers who walked off the job because of wildfire smoke and renters who pay way too much for heating in the winter.

from South Park residents who lost their homes in the floods, from young people who want a livable future, and seniors who want to live through the next heat wave.

We are all scared, but we're also hopeful.

It's not too late to act on climate change, and we need policies like BEPS to turn the tide.

Transitioning Seattle's big buildings off fossil fuels is our chance to tackle 10% of Seattle's climate pollution, create thousands of green jobs, and bring life-saving cooling to people across Seattle.

For our families and our future, past the best as written and without delay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Deepa Sivarahan, followed by Ben Jones.

And Deepa, can you hit star six, please, so we can hear you?

Maybe if you could try it one more time, Deepa, it's star six.

My apologies, we cannot hear you.

Your phone still shows that it's on mute.

I understand you have been trying to hit star six, but it does not seem to be working.

I'm gonna move on to some other callers.

If I see your status change, I'll come back to you.

Moving on to Ben Jones, and Ben will be followed by Jasmine Chiu.

Good morning.

My name is Ben Jones.

I'm the communications director at 350 Seattle.

I'd like to use my time today to speak in support of the building emissions performance standard.

At this point, I consider us in the victory lap for this policy.

For close to a year, members of our organization, representatives from labor, housing justice advocates, and many, many other stakeholders have worked together with members of the city council and OSC to craft a policy that tackles pollution from our state's fastest growing source of climate emissions.

This is a policy we're proud of.

I'd especially like to thank Council Member Herbold for bringing this policy to Council.

Working closely with the Council on a policy like this was new to our organization.

And as we look past the passage of the Building Emissions Performance Standards, we at 350 Seattle are excited to continue working with the incoming City Council to pass more Green New Deal style legislation.

Please pass this legislation.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Jasmine Chiu, and then we'll move back to in-person speakers.

First in-person speaker following Jasmine Chiu will be Shimona Moreno.

Jasmine.

Hi, council members.

I wanted to thank you for your time today to hear public comments.

My name is Jasmine Chiu, and I work at RMI and support the America is All In Coalition, which Seattle is a member of.

And like many others on this meeting, I'd like to reiterate the benefits that a building emissions performance standard can bring to the city of Seattle.

Not only can the standard address emissions from existing buildings, but it can also create good paying jobs, reduce pollution and improve indoor and outdoor air quality and help building owners future proof their assets.

Cities such as New York City, Boston, DC and Denver have all enacted building performance standards too.

A building emissions performance standard is a great solution for the city as the city's commercial and multifamily buildings contribute 37% of Seattle's climate pollution and increasing wildfires in the region make buildings important shelters for critical cooling services and protection from poor outdoor air quality.

Thank you again for your time and consideration today.

Thank you.

Next we have Shimona Moreno followed by Ruth Sawyer.

Hi, good morning committee.

My name is Shimona Moreno, I use she, her pronouns and I'm the executive director at 350 Seattle.

I wanna thank President Juarez and the Chair Herbold for bringing building emissions performance standards to the council.

350 Seattle urges the committee to pass this carefully crafted compromise legislation as written and without delay.

Because without it, Seattle can't meet its climate goals.

Because building retrofits will bring life-saving cooling to Seattle residents.

Because the policy will result in 250 good green jobs per year, thousands in total.

Because by taking decisive climate action, and by the very name of this committee, Committee on Climate Action, you will be setting a great example for the future councils.

For all these reasons, please pass the building emission performance standards now.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Ruth Sawyer, and Ruth will be followed by David Kipnis.

Hello.

Good morning.

Thank you, everyone, for being here, and thank you, Councilmember Herbold, for bringing this forward.

My name is Ruth Sawyer.

I'm speaking about BEPS legislation.

I'm speaking on behalf of the Sierra Club.

We support the legislation as written.

I wanted to take a moment to share a bit about some of the other people who couldn't be here but who support the legislation.

All summer and to a certain extent fall long, we've been out and about in the community speaking to members of the public at fairs and festivals from the Fremont Fair to Othello International Fest and many others.

And people are excited to see the city taking action.

towards our climate goals.

I think there's a lot of hopelessness out there and to see us using our collaborative muscles and and creating a policy that many people agree on is really exciting.

So I just wanted to bring that in the room and the over 2000 signatures we got in that process.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is David Kipnis and David will be followed by Alice Lockhart.

Good morning, Council and staff.

My name is David Kipnis.

I'm a homeowner in District 1. For the health and well-being of current and future generations, I urge you to vote in favor of the BEPS policy as written.

As a mental health and educational professional that has the privilege to work with many of the next generation, I can assure you that they're feeling the effects of the crisis looming, if not physically, then emotionally, and often both.

The current proposal is a result of compromise and collaboration between a wide range of stakeholders that results in green transitional jobs, does not affect small businesses, and is not an unreasonable ask for large businesses, and is a commitment to the health and well-being of our constituents.

The BEPS policy is written as a significant step for the region, if not the nation, into a sustainable energy future.

Personally, I've made my substantial financial commitment to the future by upgrading both to solar and to a heat pump.

As someone who is in a profession that doesn't make a lot of money, it's a substantial commitment.

but one that I could not ignore, and one that I'm proud to leave the legacy of the future dwellers.

At this urgent time, we need you to commit to our future, too, by accepting the BEPS policy as written.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Alice Lockhart, and Alice will be followed by Nicole Grant.

Good morning, committee.

I'm Alice Lockhart with 350 Seattle.

Chair Herbold and President Juarez, thank you so much for bringing building emissions performance standards before council now.

It's not only important, but truly urgent.

We need to pass it now because the new council We'll be busy with other stuff for some months.

We hear from OSE that it will take literally years to stand up.

We need to pass it now so OSE can get started.

Passing the legislation now will bring Seattle residents air conditioning that will literally save lives during heat and smoke events.

Passing it now will also allow some OSE resources to shift to securing state and federal dollars to retrofit low-income housing.

This money will not wait around.

Read the T-shirt.

Electrify.

Please pass BEPS as written now.

Thank you.

Ms. Thank you.

Next speaker is Nicole Grant, and the call will be followed by Anthony Guerin.

Thank you, Chair Horvold, members of the committee.

My name is Nicole Grant and I'm the Director of Government Affairs for IBEW Local 46. We represent 6,200 union electricians in King County and we are very enthusiastic about this policy.

We are the union that built Climate Pledge Arena.

We are the union that is going to electrify Washington's ferry system.

And we want to be the union that ushers Seattle into a new era of clean energy.

The data's clear about how this policy can prevent pollution in our community, protecting young people from asthma.

And it's the kind of thing that will make Seattle that will be Seattle's longevity as we go forward for generations to come.

Thanks.

Our next speaker is Anthony Guerin followed by Sarah Appler.

Hello, good morning, Chair Herbold and other committee members and council members.

My name is Anthony Guerin.

I am a rank and file member of IBEW Local 46 here in Seattle, Washington.

I am also a licensed EL01 electrician.

I am here to testify and support the BEPS policy.

Many members, not only in our local, helped build this city, as Nicole mentioned, with the Climate Pledge, but we continue in the past, present, and future to electrify this city and make this city better.

Many of our IBW members are certified and trained to get this job done, and I urge you to pass this to put our members to work and to electrify Seattle.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Sarah Alper, and Sarah will be followed by Bill Sampson.

Hi, I'm Sarah.

I am a renter in District 4. I'm also a farmer, so I want to speak to you in that capacity today in support of passing BEPS.

I'm sure you know farmers here and everywhere are on the front lines of climate change.

In my time growing for Seattle markets, I have harvested thousands of pounds of carrots racing a rising flood in an unexpected season.

I've sweated in an N95 for weeks because the weeds don't stop for smoke season.

I want to live in a city where I can keep growing food for my neighbors, where a local food system can continue to thrive.

Farmers are resilient, but we can't do this alone.

So on behalf of my fellow growers and consumers, I'm urging you to pass any legislation you can to slow the progress and mitigate the effects of the climate crisis.

Today, that means passing BEPS as written and without delay.

Our next speaker is Bill Sampson, and Bill will be followed by Carissa Knipe.

After Carissa, we have approximately 12 more people to speak.

I'd really appreciate the cooperation of my colleagues so that we can hear everybody speak.

And if there's no objection, I'd like to suspend the rules to allow an additional 25 minutes to speak for a total of an additional 20 minutes on top of the original, I think 20, a total of 40 minutes of public comment.

Seeing and hearing no objection, we will extend the public comment period and we'll move back into our in-person public speakers and then we'll finish up with virtual speakers.

So Bill Sampson followed by Carissa Knight.

Hi, my name is Bill Sampson.

I live in Seattle.

I support the BEPS policy and thank you for council members for crafting the policy and allowing public comment on it.

Since I'm a little later, I want to talk about a few things some other people might not have mentioned.

I know a lot of people are aware about the bad air quality in the summer with the wildfires, but even this morning, the air quality index was 86, which is listed as moderate.

But, you know, the air kind of smells a little funny and looks a little, you know, smoggy.

And I know when I started testifying at hearings like this, pollution was sort of more a problem in East Asia or Los Angeles and not here.

And so I see this policy as a necessary step towards improving health and safety.

Our next speaker is Carissa Knipe, followed by Nicole, I believe it's Demerre.

Hello, I'm Carissa Knipe.

I'm a renter in District 4 and I also support passing the BEPS policy.

We know that the climate choices we make in the next few years will decide our future for hundreds of years to come.

I can imagine that being a terrifying future driven by further ecological and social instability.

And I see how this is both a reality and an anxiety for so many people around me and around the world.

but I can also imagine a more positive future, one where we all have shelter, a city, and a planet to call home, where our daily life and work within those homes do not produce emissions that then endanger those homes.

I'd be thrilled to live and work in a city that takes strong action to both mitigate and adapt to climate change that has good air quality, efficient air conditioning, and plentiful green jobs.

With this policy, we have the ability to move toward all of these things.

I hope we have the willingness.

thank you thank you our next speaker is uh nicole i think it's denamer got it yeah and then after nicole we will switch back to online online speakers starting with brett anton

Good morning, thank you.

My name's Nicole DeNamer.

I use she, her pronouns.

I'm a sustainability practitioner, lawyer, and educator here in Seattle.

I just wanna zoom out and make two really quick points, because I know we're running short on time.

First, and I think this is most critical, to center that this legislation really is equity legislation, given the well-documented, severely disproportionate impacts of climate change, and the building sector's significant contributions to those impacts.

I think it's important to give this work that attention and focus that equity work really deserves because buildings can get really technical really quickly and it's important to kind of just ground in that conversation that this really is equity driven legislation.

Second, with respect to concerns regarding costs, which I expect many folks are probably gonna raise over the next couple of weeks, I hear that a lot in my work.

And that said, the research I've reviewed demonstrates that the costs of a rapidly changing climate will far outweigh those of costs for both public and private owners for the capital improvements that may be needed to comply with this type of legislation.

Insurance companies, financial institutions, lenders, they're all already paying attention, and resilient strategies like this, which is really what this legislation is, are key to building stronger, healthier communities.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Brett Anton, and Brett will be followed by Bobby Raihey.

Good morning, all.

My name is Brett, and I'm a 21-year-old asthmatic.

I'm a member of the first generation to be born into the climate crisis.

Let me share what that means for me, by the way.

In 2021, I watched my brother suffer a heat stroke from playing outside, and my good friend flee three different homes in eastern Washington from wildfires.

In 2022, my friend dodged a tree down by a climate-infused storm by just inches as it landed in front of his car.

This year, I watched another friend design an escape route through the UW campus because spring wildfires meant that they couldn't walk from class to class without suffering severe asthma attacks.

Summer is now a time of dangerous waiting for the next wildfire or heat wave to put our lives at risk.

That waiting is most dangerous for the young, elderly, low-income, and BIPOC, who will continue to suffer the health impacts the most and be the least able to afford them.

While it's chilling to know that the climate crisis is just getting started, it's exciting to see us take action today.

That isn't perfect, but it is progress towards addressing the rarely discussed building sector, where 37% of our climate is pollution in Seattle.

That must be passed now.

We stand with the billions already feeling the impacts of the climate crisis today, and the millions demanding action.

Pass the test.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Bobby Rahi, followed by Carrie Mead.

Bobby, we cannot hear you if you're speaking.

Hello.

My name is Bobby Reedy, and thank you for allowing me to speak this morning.

I'm in my 80s and have lived in Seattle for over 40 years.

I'm healthy and active, but I suffer from some difficulty breathing because I grew up in the Texas Gulf Coast near refineries and oil rigs.

I've always lived in homes with gas heaters and stove in the south.

That means a open flame heater.

I grew up with a slogan and ads saying cooking with gas is the epitome of modern living.

And I believed it.

But burning gas and oil are anything but modern and are killing our planet.

We are all being cooked by the burning of fossil fuels.

And because I can afford it, I just switched to an induction stove.

Seattle's a city known for technology.

We must use the best available technology to keep us warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

I commend the many people who've worked for years on this building emissions performance standards.

Pass the policy that is written to reduce emissions.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Carrie Mead, and Carrie will be followed by Robin Briggs.

Good morning.

For the record, my name is Carrie Mead, and I'm the Executive Director of MEEC, a nonprofit trade association representing businesses who work to decarbonize building energy use through energy efficiency and other approaches.

I'm here to share our organization's support for the proposed BEPS policy.

Emissions from buildings are the second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in our state, and in Seattle, they represent over a third of our emissions.

The proposed BEPS policy is an essential tool to help our city address these emissions and meet our climate goals.

In drafting the policy, the Seattle Office of Sustainability and Environment developed a practical approach to emission reductions that was carefully developed with substantial stakeholder input from industry, building owners, climate groups, affordable housing providers, organized labor, and policymakers, to name a few.

I've been involved with the development of building standards in both Washington and Oregon, and I believe the rigorous public and expert vetting of the BEPS policy will assure its success.

I urge the city council to pass the policy as written and without delay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Robin Briggs.

And Robin will be followed by Justin Logan.

Hi.

My name is Robin Briggs.

I'm a homeowner in District 3. I'm really encouraged to see the council form a special committee on climate.

I'm here today to ask you to pass the building emissions performance standards to establish a timeline and a requirement for our largest buildings to make the transition to clean energy.

This policy has been a long time in the making, and it has been through an extensive stakeholder engagement process.

Adopting this rule will give the community a clear and predictable set of steps to follow to decarbonize, and it will reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 10%.

Let this council pass the policy now and lay down a firm foundation for the next council to build on as we work to meet our climate goals.

The world is moving to respond to climate change, and Seattle needs to do its part to be the green city that we can all be proud to live in.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Justin Logan, and Justin will be followed by Joseph Swaya.

Good morning.

My name is Justin Logan.

I live in D3.

I'm here today speaking in support of BIPs because every year I fear the heat waves and wildfire smoke that the summer brings.

And I'd like to emphasize the need for urgent action.

These annual climate disasters are a current reality and they are intensifying every single year.

While the climate crisis points to a bleak future, the Bips before you is our beacon of hope.

Reducing our carbon emissions and providing life-saving cooling is critical as we face this crisis.

Every year we delay, we put more lives at risk and fall further behind our climate commitment.

Please pass this ordinance as written and show the nation that Seattle leads on climate.

Thank you all.

Thank you, our next speaker is Joseph Zwaya and Joseph will be followed by Maria Batiola.

Joseph.

And Joseph, we need you to hit star six so we can hear you.

Joseph, we need you to hit star six if you can hear me.

By hitting star six, that will unmute you so we can hear your testimony.

All right, one more time, hopefully third time's the charm.

Calling for Joseph Swaya to please hit star six on your phone to unmute yourself.

All right.

We're going to have to come back to Joseph, perhaps, if that ability to talk to us changes.

We'll move on to Maria Batiola, who is showing is not present.

If Maria's status changes before the end of public comment, we'll come back to Maria Batiola.

Next, we have Dylan Plummer, and Dylan will be followed by Jesse Simpson.

Hello, Keith.

Chair Herbold, President Suarez, and members of the Select Committee on Climate Action, my name is Dylan Plummer, and I'm a senior field organizer with the Sierra Club, an environmental organization that represents tens of thousands of members in Seattle.

I'm testifying to voice Sierra Club's support for the proposed building emissions performance standard.

For over two years, Sierra Club has worked with our members, the city's Office of Sustainability and Environment, and various stakeholders to support the development of this policy.

Through countless hours of conversation and collaboration, We have come up with a bill with support from environmental and climate organizations, as well as organized labor, affordable housing providers, and building professionals.

We urge the council to pass this policy to reduce emissions, create green jobs, protect clean air, and continue the work to build a just transition for Seattle.

Thank you very much for considering my testimony.

I also want to note that Deepa has called back in and is hoping to have another chance to try to unmute and testify at some point today.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Jesse Simpson, and Jesse will be followed by Nathaniel Baum.

Good morning, council members.

Jesse Simpson, government relations and policy manager at the Housing Development Consortium, here today to speak in strong support of the building emissions performance standards legislation.

Consensus policy results from over two years of collaborative stakeholder engagement.

It's bold and realistic legislation that addresses the urgency of the crisis as well as the practical challenges housing providers face in decarbonizing buildings.

I especially want to call out how this legislation supports affordable housing.

Affordable housing operates on tight margins, and preserving and expanding affordable housing alongside meeting our climate goals requires a systemic solution.

This policy bridges that gap by providing flexibility to meet decarbonization goals at the portfolio level and identifying funding to support affordable housing operators as they electrify and decarbonize buildings.

The progressive timelines for decarbonization give predictability to the building sector so owners can effectively plan long-term retrofits and bring us the clean buildings we need.

For the health of our city and climate, I strongly urge to pass the building emissions performance standards as written.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Nathaniel Baum, and Nathaniel will be followed by Brian DeHart.

hi uh good morning council thank you so much for this hearing um i'm just calling as a volunteer uh with 350 Seattle and a parent and a resident homeowner in v2 in Seattle and just calling to urge you all to pass uh that's without delay um my older daughter is four years old and i also just have a 10 week old just for my older daughter seeing her grow up and knowing nothing but the really bad air quality And the wildfires during their summers have been extremely devastating.

In 2020, trying to help keep my daughter safe from the pandemic and the wildfires, which necessitated being, you know, kind of inside was unsafe in the pandemic and outside was unsafe from the wildfires was terrible.

Seeing her come to realization as she gets older that, like, hey, this is making a difference.

I can't decide.

I have to wear a mask.

It was awful.

All right.

I don't have a choice.

We have to take whatever action we can to help ensure a better future so that we don't suffer from these effects from psychological, the physiological, the mental health, the effects on our lungs, our neural, our brains.

It's just been terrible.

So please do whatever you can to pass.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is, we're going back to Deepa Sivarahan.

And, Noel, I believe somebody else has signed up on the...

in-person public comment sheet that's left, and that will be all we have.

So if you can grab that so I can announce that person's name, that would be great.

Dipa Sivarahan.

Did you call Brian DeHart?

Oh, my apologies.

Yes, Brian DeHart, then Dipa Sivarahan.

Thank you.

Yeah, and thanks for this opportunity to speak, and thanks for putting up with my technical difficulties here.

My name is Brian and I'm a product designer for KCTS 9 PBS as well as a husband and musician.

I urge the city council to pass proposed buildings emissions performance standards policy as written in order to reduce emissions, make buildings healthier and cleaner, and to make Seattle a leader on the climate issues, motivating other municipalities and states to follow suit.

Buildings are the lowest hanging fruit when it comes to emissions.

In Seattle, commercial and multifamily buildings account for 37% of our city's climate pollution, and space and water heaters are responsible for the majority of this.

By improving how our large buildings are heated, we will dramatically reduce our city's emissions, not only making Seattle a leader on climate, but in other areas as well.

First, our local air quality will improve, leading to less nitrogen oxides and small particulate matter in and around buildings.

These pollutants are associated with asthma, heart attacks, and stroke, increasing our city's health care costs.

And second, our buildings will be future-proofed and more valuable.

Building owners will have another reason to take advantage of federal tax credit.

Thank you so much.

Our last virtual public speaker is Deepa Sivarahan, and Deepa will be followed by Sonam Sherpa.

And Deepa, we need you to hit star six so that we can hear you.

My apologies, Deepa.

I hope that we would have worked this out so we could hear from you.

But I'm going to ask one more time and I'm going to call our final in-person speaker if it doesn't work.

So Deepa, if you can hear me, can you hit star six?

All right, well, my apologies.

There will be another opportunity to give public comment at our next meeting.

Moving to our last signed up speaker in person, we have Sanam Sharpa.

Hi, my name is Sanam Sharpa, and I'm a college student at South Seattle Community College.

And I believe that this bill, Seattle building emission performance standard is a crucial step toward a sustainable future and a cleaner and more environmentally conscious Seattle.

I think it's very important step towards reducing carbon emission and combating climate change.

So I urge you guys to pass this initiative and transition to a clean energy.

Thank you.

All right, well, that concludes public comment.

It is 10.17 a.m., and we will move to read the first item into the agenda.

Mr. Clerk, can you read agenda item number one?

Agenda item one, Council Bill 120718. An ordinance relating to regulating greenhouse gas emissions in larger existing non-residential and multifamily buildings, establishing and imposing greenhouse gas emissions intensity targets and reporting requirements, prescribing penalties, adding a new chapter 22.925 to the Seattle Municipal Code, amending sections 22.920.010020030120130.

And 170, section 22.930.010.020.040.050.120.140.180 of the Seattle Municipal Code and repealing section 22.920.040 of the Seattle Municipal Code.

Thank you very much, Mr. Clerk.

So this is the first meeting of the 2023 Select Committee on Climate Action.

I want to thank Council President Juarez for creating this select committee to consider building emissions performance standard legislation proposed by Mayor Harrell and thank my colleagues for joining us this morning.

If we could start with a quick round of introductions and then I'm just going to say a few introductory remarks and we'll hand it back over to you.

Hello, Yolanda Ho, Council Central Staff.

Chris Devias, Mayor's Office.

Jessen Farrell, Director of the Office of Sustainability and Environment.

And Sandra Mallory, Office of Sustainability and Environment.

Thank you so much.

I want to thank everybody who took time today to come out and give public comment.

Really appreciate your input and appreciate the work that you've been doing to get us to this point.

Also want to thank the supportive statements that we saw in the mayor's press release, included from Climate Solutions, the Sierra Club, MLK Labor, the Housing Development Consortium, Shift Zero, and 350.org.

This is a comprehensive policy approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from existing large buildings.

It has flexible compliance pathways to accommodate buildings of many uses, size, type, ownership, age, and systems.

with low-income housing and human services given a longer lead time to prepare.

The legislation creates predictability for asset management for building owners, and the implementation timeline is designed to sync with the state clean buildings performance standard and provide support for building owners.

As I've said before, I like to think of this legislation actually as step two for these larger buildings.

Step one was taken in legislation that Councilmember Strauss proposed and successfully shepherded in 2021 to update the commercial energy code for new commercial buildings and multifamily condominiums and apartments.

That legislation prohibits the use of fossil fuels or gas for space heating and water heating in newly built hotels and multifamily residents.

Also, just want to thank the Office of Sustainability and the Environment for the extensive outreach that they've done in this legislation and their comprehensive and really thorough work with stakeholders.

And with that, I'll pass it off to you to present.

Thank you.

Sure.

Chair Herbal.

Oh, sure.

Council Member Strauss, before we get going.

Before we get going, I just wanted to say thank you to the mayor's office.

Thank you to Director Farrell.

Thank you, Council Member Herbal and Council President Juarez for getting this legislation to us before the end of the year.

Chair, if you're open to it, I'd like to co-sponsor this legislation.

Absolutely.

And I should have mentioned Council Member Mosqueda has also asked to be to be a co-sponsor.

So, yes, absolutely.

We'll add your name.

Thank you.

Excited for today.

So I'm going to kick it off with just a few brief comments.

Good morning, council members.

I'm very pleased to be here with you today to present Mayor Harrell's legislation on building emissions performance standards.

Mayor Harrell recognizes the existential crisis posed by climate change and that bold action is required to move our city away from fossil fuel dependence.

To that end, upon taking office, Mayor Harrell made it a personal priority to champion this policy, understanding it is one of the more impactful actions the city can take to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.

And the mayor hopes that this will help inspire other cities to follow suit, as we all know that collective action is needed to stave off the worst impacts of climate change.

So with that, we're very appreciative of your taking the time today to consider this legislation.

And I'd also like to acknowledge Director Farrell and her committed staff at OSE who have been working tirelessly to bring together a wide range of stakeholders to reach consensus on this legislation.

That includes many of the people you heard from today and also building owners, the trades, and labor.

among others.

So their input and collaboration is reflected in this bill before you.

And finally, I'd like to thank Council President Juarez and Council Member Herbold.

It is because of your committed partnership with us that we are able to be here today and have the possibility of getting this law passed before year's end.

So with that, I'll turn it over to Director Farrell.

Great.

Good morning.

Thank you so much, Council, for having us here today.

It's very exciting.

And I would just like to echo the words of Krista.

One, to thank the mayor for his championship of this bill.

His leadership has been really crucial in getting us to this point.

And I want to thank Council Member Herbold for her never taking her eyes off the prize and keeping us focused on getting this bill over the finish line.

And in a special warm thank you to Council President Juarez for establishing this first ever select committee on climate, which is a tool I hope we get to use again in the future.

So with that, I would like to say a few words of introduction, and then Sandra is going to walk you through this very complicated and exciting legislation.

So I just want to start by really centering this legislation in a long standing commitment to the city on advancing and combating climate change.

And this is part of the mayor's state of the city address this year.

His commitment to this council member Herbold repeatedly has spoken out in favor of taking bold action on climate.

So this is just yet another step that the city has taken.

Why don't we move to the next slide?

And you can see a very kind of cute picture of the Space Needle.

We are literally threading the needle with this legislation.

I believe that we strike the balance of addressing the urgent climate crisis before us, environmental justice.

We are in, of course, a very important moment in downtown revitalization.

We take into account how important that is as the heart of our city.

We are looking at equipment life cycles, market signals, our workforce and labor concerns, what a dress transition truly looks like, affordable housing, human services, and of course, our own commitment as a city to decarbonizing our own building portfolio.

Again, this policy addresses multiple priorities And I believe it strikes a balance and Sandra is going to walk us through how it does that.

So with that, Sandra can take it away.

All right.

Good morning, council members.

I also want to thank you for your engagement during what I know is a very busy time.

I'll be spending the next 30 minutes or so walking you through the policy, covering the context, the policy development process, details of the standard, some examples of what it means to be net zero emissions, how folks comply with the policy, and why we think it's important to move forward with this policy now.

So first, context for why we are proposing this particular policy.

As you've heard, buildings are one of the largest sources of climate pollution, contributing 37% of our core greenhouse gas emissions.

In the city of Seattle, we are blessed with extremely low emissions electricity supplied by City Light.

So over 90 percent of building related emissions come from burning fossil fuels, gas used in furnaces, stoves, other appliances, as well as in boilers that generate steam for district systems.

The environmental and health impacts are not just from burning these fuels directly, but also occur during extraction and distribution.

And we know that black and brown communities are the closest to and most exposed to this pollution and most impacted overall by climate pollution.

For all of the city's innovative sustainability efforts, I've been at the city quite a while, and voluntary incentive programs, as well as very leading work of many, many Seattle building owners, both public and private, we are still falling well short of the trajectory necessary to reach our community's climate action plan goals, which have buildings getting to net zero emissions by 2050. So to redirect that trajectory, the approach we are proposing today is a building emissions performance standard for Seattle's larger existing buildings.

Performance standards are a climate action that is being implemented in jurisdictions across the country from Boston to Chula Vista, California.

Enacting a performance standard now is one of the most effective actions Seattle can take to get us back on track.

It would reduce building-related emissions 27% by 2050, and it's a powerful tool for ensuring the places where we live and work are healthy and efficient.

The proposed policy would establish carbon emissions reduction targets that building owners meet over time.

First targets would start in 2031, starting easier and then getting more stringent over the following two decades.

The targets give building owners the predictability of long-term expectations so owners have ample time to plan ahead and gradually implement improvements.

Since these are performance-based targets, not prescriptive, owners have the flexibility to utilize technologies and strategies most appropriate for their own buildings and that integrate best with their own asset management processes.

Got to get on the little button.

The benefits of the policy are wide-ranging.

Tenants and owners will have lower utility bills and more comfortable spaces.

Investments in our buildings will create local well-paying jobs from refrigeration mechanics to electricians to sheet metal workers and engineers.

And fewer fossil fuels in buildings also means less risk of accidents, as well as cleaner air indoors and out.

A building performance policy for existing buildings was first identified as a key climate action in Seattle's 2013 Climate Action Plan.

Since then, OSE has evaluated the approach as part of the American Cities Climate Challenge, and we are part of a cohort of over 30 cities nationwide who have implemented or are developing performance standards.

OSE has a wealth of experience to build on working with owners on the efficiency of their existing buildings.

Under the energy benchmarking program, owners report their annual energy use to the city.

Under the building tune-ups program, owners improve the energy efficiency of large commercial buildings by enacting low cost operations and maintenance measures.

OSC works closely with capital departments who have also been taking the lead on efficiency and emissions reductions in our own municipal buildings.

And we are finalizing our strategy for fully decarbonizing our entire portfolio.

The performance standard policy has been designed to align with other associated regulations with the Seattle Energy Code, which limits fossil fuel equipment in new construction, major renovations, and most equipment replacements, and with the state's clean building performance standard under which large existing commercial buildings meet energy targets beginning in 2026. So now I'd like to focus on the extensive policy development process over the last three years.

OSE conducted a very robust and inclusive stakeholder engagement process.

The process was identified early on in our racial equity toolkit analysis as necessary to ensure an effective and equitable policy.

We'd like to thank the hundreds of stakeholders, many of whom you've heard from today, for participating in numerous focus meetings, webinars, and one-on-one discussions.

The process included building owners, managers, real estate representatives, engineers, labor representatives, affordable housing providers, and many more.

There was a diverse technical advisory group, and the Housing Development Consortium led its own affordable housing task force to influence the policy.

And the Green New Deal Oversight Board has been an active participant, providing an important equity perspective throughout the process.

The stakeholder process and policy development was informed by the goals of the Green New Deal and by the racial equity toolkit I mentioned.

Key themes from the Green New Deal include climate resilience, benefits and investments directed towards those most impacted by environmental injustice, and ensuring a diverse workforce.

Through the racial equity toolkit, we identified specific outcomes to seek.

Building owners and tenants from frontline communities should benefit from energy efficient, healthy spaces.

They should be provided with outreach and education formulated to best meet their needs, and they should receive prioritized support and funding.

In addition, BIPOC community members should form a large portion of the workforce that will conduct the building improvements.

So, these equity values and outcomes are embedded in the proposed policy, which I'll outline for you now.

Before we move on, I just want to pause and see, we just heard parts of the presentation focused on context and process, just checking to make sure there's no questions about that before we delve into the details of the proposal itself.

Not seeing any raised hands.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The basic framework for the policy includes measuring and verifying energy and emissions performance, evaluating buildings' baseline conditions and opportunities, then meeting decreasing emission targets every five years until finally achieving net zero emissions.

And I'll share what net zero emissions looks like in a couple of examples later on.

The performance standard would supersede the building tune-ups mandate, which would sunset once the current tune-up compliance cycle is complete.

Policy would apply to over 4000 of Seattle's larger existing non-residential and multifamily buildings.

These are buildings over 20,000 square feet that are already complying with Seattle's energy benchmarking policy.

The policy would not cover industrial or manufacturing facilities.

It would not cover smaller commercial and multifamily buildings or single family homes nor would it apply to new construction which is covered by the Seattle Energy Code.

The targets that owners would be expected to meet are based on a greenhouse gas intensity metric.

This measures the emissions of a building on a per square foot basis.

It's calculated based on the emissions associated with each energy source consumed in the building divided by the total area of the building, excluding parking.

And the state uses a similar approach for their energy use.

So here's the fine detail of what that means for different building types.

To establish the greenhouse gas intensity targets that owners will be asked to meet, we determine the average baseline greenhouse gas emissions intensity for different building types, offices, labs, hotels, et cetera, and then project it out to zero to get greenhouse gas intensity targets for each compliance interval.

Targets for buildings with multiple uses would be prorated based on the percent of floor area occupied by each space.

Okay.

So we heard very clearly from building owners that they will need time to ramp up.

so we made sure the policy has a long runway.

At the same time, the policy relies on sending a long-range market signal at this critical juncture to provide owners with clear direction.

It's also important that the policy aligns with the state's energy standard.

Many owners are already looking at how they will meet their upcoming compliance, which begins in 2026. And we want to make sure that what they do now is aligned with Seattle's emissions reductions expectations.

So to help owners ramp up, Seattle's first compliance interval, 2027 to 2030, is a planning phase.

Owners would verify their energy and emissions data and develop a simple plan documenting existing conditions and actions needed to achieve targets in the following compliance intervals.

Actual compliance with the first targets wouldn't start until 2031 to 2035. Targets for non-residential buildings would decrease over three compliance intervals until reaching net zero emissions in 2041 to 2045. We also heard clear input from stakeholders that we need to address housing affordability concerns.

We've therefore given multifamily buildings along longer timeframe over four intervals until reaching net zero emissions in 2046 to 2050. At the front end, low income housing, low rent housing and buildings with human services are given the option to take longer to prepare by getting an extension to the following compliance interval.

This helps address concerns expressed especially by low income housing providers around the long timelines for capital needs planning and public funding cycles.

And it allows more time for the city to support this critical building sector with personal assistance and funding.

Sandra, can we pause on that slide there?

We go back.

Thank you.

So are each of these blocks of time considered performance intervals?

Yes.

So each of them are five-year intervals, except for the first one.

And each is considered a compliance interval.

Compliance interval.

And so the compliance interval of 2027 to 2023, people are going to be ready for that because these same buildings have already been doing benchmarking.

Is that correct?

Correct.

So we've been working on benchmarking since 2011. So building owners are already tracking their energy use and emissions and reporting it to the city.

And we also have good relationships with building owners.

And so the additional piece is verifying that data.

So it's self-reported right now, so there'll be an additional step.

which is verification, to make sure that the performance that we're measuring them against is accurate.

Perfect.

Thank you.

Mm-hmm.

In each compliance interval, the compliance would be phased in so the larger buildings, those with the greater impact, and typically owners with greater resources comply first, and the smallest buildings, those more likely to be under-resourced and without dedicated facility staff, would have longer to prepare.

So I'm gonna show you a couple of examples now, but I'll pause to see if there are any questions.

OK, so I'm going to show you two examples.

One is an affordable housing project, the other a state-owned building.

And I just want to emphasize that these are examples.

And the pathway and costs for any individual building, public or private, will, of course, vary based on specific unique situations.

The first example is a concept plan for the 50,000 square foot low-income housing residence, Stewart Manor, which is owned by the Seattle Housing Authority.

As is very common for much multifamily housing throughout Seattle, the building has electric resistance heating in each residential unit, with a common hot water system powered by gas.

OSC partnered with the University of Washington to evaluate and develop a plan for eliminating fossil fuels while also reducing energy and utility costs and improving health and resilience and minimizing tenant disruptions.

So the key strategy for achieving net zero emissions is to replace the gas central hot water boiler with an efficient heat pump.

The holistic plan also identified adding roof insulation for efficiency, upgrading corridor ventilation for both improved efficiency and indoor air quality, and adding cooling to the community room.

This last measure has a very negligible impact on energy use, but provides a safe space onsite for residents during heat and wildfire events.

Notably, no wall or window upgrades were considered in this evaluation to avoid relocating tenants.

SHA is using these learnings from Stewart Manor to implement these same measures at another of their properties, South Park Manor.

In another case study, one that has been completed, City Light partnered with the owner, the state's Department of Energy Services, on a retrofit to drastically improve energy efficiency, achieve net zero emissions, and improve tenant health and comfort.

This is a 23,000 square foot building, which had gas boilers for space and water heating, and a failing chiller that was providing cooling.

The key measures for reducing emissions were to replace the gas fired hot water and heating systems with electric heat pumps.

Additional measures that addressed energy included replacing the cooling system, replacing the windows, upgrading lighting and improving building controls.

Indoor air quality was addressed with improved ventilation system.

All these measures combined led to a 70% energy use reduction and significantly reduced the building's electric load so that no electric service upgrades were needed when installing the new electric heat pumps.

In this project as well, the tenants, Washington Services for the Blind, were able to stay open throughout the 18-month remodel.

So now I'm going to go even more deeply into the details of the policy and how owners would comply.

While the basic standard is based on the fairly straightforward premise that a building meets clear performance thresholds along a defined timeline, We heard extensive input from both large portfolio owners as well as individual owners of smaller properties about the need to provide flexibility for unique buildings and unique circumstances.

In response, we expanded the range of options under which a building owner might comply.

So under path A, owners meet the greenhouse gas intensity targets by the set dates.

Path B allows minor modifications to how targets are calculated or to the set dates.

And then Path C is a much more customized approach to address extenuating circumstances with building owners developing and implementing a decarbonization compliance plan that's specific to their own conditions.

And do we have criteria already set for who is eligible for the different pathways for compliance, or is that something yet to be developed?

It is both.

We have criteria, and I'll run through some of the details of these.

And so it really, the criteria is based on whether they meet the criteria for extenuating circumstances or whether they have a particular end use that might be deducted under Path B. So the criteria is based on the specific building and then they would apply to the city to do either path B or path C.

Okay, so I'll show you the range of unique circumstances we've considered and how they've been incorporated into the policy under each of the three pathways.

Each bullet on this slide and the following slides reflects our responses to input from individual owners and facility managers, from representatives from particular building types and from professional building related organizations.

I will warn you, there are a lot of bullets.

I will not read each of them, but will instead share some highlights.

So in path A, as I noted, the most straightforward approach meet the targets on a set timeline.

Few variations here.

So for instance, with owners who have multiple buildings in a portfolio, compliance can be on an aggregate basis instead of for each individual building.

So for instance, a low income housing provider that may already be doing significant improvements to some buildings may have other buildings on a longer timeframe.

So the total emissions reductions remain the same, but owners have the flexibility to focus their efforts where it makes most sense for their buildings.

Path B includes some defined options for modifications to the targets or the timeline.

For instance, an owner might get an extension if the building has a high vacancy rate, since that would impact their net operating income and their ability to make improvements, which is of particular concern in this market.

or an owner could use an end use deduction so they aren't penalized for certain high intensity equipment, such as in labs and hospitals.

Path C is the most flexible, which allows owners to develop a customized decarbonization plan that addresses extenuating circumstances.

These circumstances might be when critical research would be negatively impact, or there's a conflict with an existing lease, and so perhaps the owner can't get access to the space.

Generally, these decarbonization plans will mean achieving net zero emissions.

In some limited circumstances, however, it may not be feasible to be fully fossil fuel free, in which case the plan would cover how the building would achieve the greatest emissions reductions possible.

Under this pathway, owners would apply each compliance interval, and the plan would include detailed information such as an engineering audit, energy and emissions reduction measures, and cost analysis.

All right, I'm going to pause there for questions since that was a lot.

It was a lot.

I'm looking to see if there are any raised hands.

not seeing oh councilman morales thank you no all right i could not find my raise hand feature um thank you the last thing you said um about path c was something about um you go back to that slide i don't know i i didn't read it but you said something about um the path c is an option if owner's can't get access to their building, or if there's already a tenant in there.

Can you talk a little bit more about what that might look like?

Because that seems like it would be every building.

So I'm just wondering what that means.

Yeah, thank you.

So under Path C, the list of bullets here are the extenuating circumstances under which one might comply for using a decarbonization compliance plan.

One of those circumstances might be, and it's not, I would say, usual, is that an owner and a tenant have a lease, an existing lease, that means that the owner isn't allowed to access the tenant space.

That's fairly unusual, but we did hear from building owners that they wanted to be sure that if they had, and these are existing leases that already are in place at the time that this policy is adopted, that they were worried that they might have to do something which would conflict with a lease agreement they already have with their owner, or excuse me, with their tenant.

Am I making sense?

Yes.

Yeah, okay.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

I see Council Member Strauss has his hand up as well.

Oh, thank you.

I just wanted to say thank you.

I don't have any questions, but I also understand, you know, there's those awkward pauses.

One of the reasons I don't have questions for you at this time is we've been discussing this since February, discussed it again really in earnest in September.

And so I've been tracking all along.

I really appreciate your work.

Just wanted to mention that as you paused to ask, see if anyone had any questions.

And there's a reason that I don't have any questions and I'm sure it's similar for my colleagues.

Great, thank you.

We've done our work then if y'all are up to speed.

Sandra, a pause.

And sometimes we ask questions because there's interesting content that maybe we're aware of, but we think would be interesting for the general public to know a little bit more about.

Could you talk a little bit about the district campus?

That's a pretty interesting situation that's very unique.

Yeah, and this was the one, as I said, each of these bullets is based on input and conversations with particular owners or interest groups.

And this came about especially from universities, where they might have, like our Seattle Center, the buildings may be on a district system.

And so they wanted to be sure that they could comply as a district, as opposed to trying to calculate the energy and emissions for each individual building, because oftentimes those buildings aren't metered.

And they also were interested in having essentially their own, being able to do their own customized plan, because again, the work to upgrade a district system is very different from the work that's done in an individual building where all of its mechanical systems are on site.

Thank you.

Specifically, I was referring to, and perhaps I'm missing my terms, but the district energy contract issue and how that's going to be held, which is, I guess, different than the district campus scenario.

So that actually is a slightly different consideration.

That's a Path B. Where was that?

That was a Path B example.

Okay.

I will not try and There we go, find it.

So we have a central steam system in the city of Seattle operated by Centrio.

And one of the concerns is that owners would need to, they rely on that system and they rely on the performance of that system.

So the way we're calculating the greenhouse gas intensity is dependent on the emissions of that system.

And while Centrillo is in fact working to decarbonize their entire system, which would be a win for everybody, because then we have a whole district of buildings that gets decarbonized at the same time, they do need, there is more time that that will take.

And owners here have existing contracts with the provider that if they leave the system, there's actually financial penalties.

And so if an owner has a contract with the district provider, they get an extension for the term of that contract, essentially.

Thank you.

All right, moving on.

So we have gone through a range of flexibility options, and I know it's a lot to take in quickly.

So I wanted to make sure to specifically call out the multiple options that prioritize affordable housing, human services, nonprofits, small businesses, and those serving frontline communities.

And again, I just am going to highlight one example.

So we've heard concerns about the feasibility of replacing gas cooking, especially for small and BIPOC-owned restaurants.

They may already be struggling.

The cost and complexity is also a concern for individual multifamily units.

where it could impact rents and disrupt tenants.

So in response to this feedback, we're providing an option in which the emissions from that cooking can be excluded from the calculation, and this would apply through 2040. This provides more time for the technology to mature, and most importantly, for the cost to come down.

And we're doing this while we would also intend to work with owners to help them transition well before their compliance dates.

So these and all of the flexibility options in the mandate help to minimize burden.

But I would like to emphasize that leading with equity under this policy means first and foremost, providing and prioritizing assistance to under-resourced entities, such as small businesses, nonprofits, affordable housing, and to those communities that have been or are disproportionately impacted by climate change and racial injustice.

So our approach to legislation is to work with the owners to encourage and support compliance, to bring them along with penalties as a last resort.

So using a very customer serviced approach with extensive education and support, we have a great track record of over 95% compliance for both the energy benchmarking and building tune-ups programs.

So the building submissions performance standard legislation itself does incorporate compliance flexibility in addition to sort of the help that we would provide.

So for instance, to ensure that someone who has made significant progress doesn't pay the same fine as someone who did nothing, owners can request that a penalty be prorated if they've made a good faith effort and they are very close to, but not quite meeting the target.

But as a last resort, there are penalties.

So penalties would be assessed just once in every five year compliance interval.

There are smaller penalties for not reporting or for reporting inaccurate information.

The larger penalties would come into play when a building isn't meeting its greenhouse gas intensity target.

They'd be on a per-square-foot basis with higher penalties for non-residential buildings, lower penalties for multifamily buildings, and even lower penalties for low-income or low-rent housing.

So we have been working on this policy for a very long time and have worked through many iterations to reflect stakeholder input.

This is including sending the timeline for first meeting the targets to 2031 to 35, as well as considerable flexibility reflected in the detailed slides I just shared.

The last public version of this policy was in June as part of the State Environmental Policy Act process.

Since then, there have been continuing stakeholder conversations over the summer and fall, and we've incorporated additional revisions to ensure a fair and impactful policy.

The most substantial revision was to increase the per square foot penalty rates to better match those of other cities and to better align with the construction cost information we've been hearing from building owners.

We also added some greater transparency in reporting, which will inform how the policy evolves over time in response to climate conditions and market conditions.

So now I'd like to turn away from the policy details and talk about why we think it's critical to move forward with this legislation quickly.

we all know we are in a climate crisis and that what we do today and the near term will impact our futures.

And we recognize that transforming over 4,000 buildings to clean energy will require focused and sustained effort, resources, and time.

Both issues are solvable.

We know that reducing emissions from buildings and transportation will mitigate climate change and help address environmental injustice.

And the technology to transition buildings to clean energy exists and is already being used.

We also in Seattle are very privileged with an amazing wealth of talent in the building industry.

engineers, contractors, building operators, who know how to make our buildings healthier and pollution-free.

We just need to scale up.

And we're not alone in this endeavor.

10 of our peer cities and states have already adopted building performance standards, and we're part of a national coalition working collectively to learn from each other.

Seattle Building Emissions Performance Standard will create jobs.

These are high quality local jobs that can't be outsourced.

OSE will be continuing to coordinate with labor and other city departments on workforce development initiatives to bring career opportunities to women and people of color, to support small, wimpy businesses, and to help ease the transition for gas workers.

As an architect, I do know that building improvements take time, from building audits to understanding code requirements to engineering design, securing funding, construction, and lastly, measuring performance.

Owners will be undertaking a multi-year effort to meet the first greenhouse gas intensity targets, and the policy is designed to provide them with the adequate lead time and a realistic timeframe.

The policy will not be successful without providing support.

So we'll, in addition to the legislation, the other aspect of the policy is providing outreach and education, technical support and resources.

We have already launched the Seattle Clean Buildings Accelerator Program, which helps owners, especially those serving frontline communities, meet the state energy standard and prepare for the Seattle standard.

Under the 2024 budget, thank you very much, we have the funding to direct engineering, to provide direct engineering and capital investments to some of these entities.

We're also in the process of funding some deep dive engineering and costing analyses in a number of representative buildings, which will serve as learnings and resources for everyone.

We have secured capital funding from the Department of Energy dedicated to low-income housing, and we're actively pursuing other funding opportunities.

Just a pause there on the accelerator.

I was under the understanding that it was focused primarily on technical assistance, but it sounded like you said that there are also funds to actually help make some of the capital improvements necessary.

Yeah, so to date, it has in fact been coaching and technical assistance, but with the $4.5 million that was approved in the 2024 budget, we have funding to actually fund engineering studies and...

capital investments.

And we do have a new staff person who has just started who will be full time on that program.

And part of their role is to undertake a process for how we will allocate those funds fairly and equitably.

Thank you.

Okay.

So this is just a representative sample of the owners that have participated to date in the Clean Buildings Accelerator Program.

And for any building owners in the audience, there's a coaching session starting in January.

So we've had 32 organizations to date.

More than half of them represent frontline communities, nonprofits, and class B and C buildings, which tend to have smaller businesses in them and more affordable rents.

So lastly, the building's emissions performance standard policy before you builds on OSE's strong foundation of supportive policy implementation.

The legislation itself is just the first step of an ongoing pathway to healthier, efficient buildings using clean energy.

The sooner legislation is adopted, the sooner we can transition staff efforts towards helping owners take action.

In summary, we are ready to get started and put in place this equitable and effective policy.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We have also with us Council Central staff, Yolanda Ho.

If there are additional comments that you'd like to make, love to hear them.

If not, I encourage everybody to read the very helpful Central staff memo that she developed.

Does a really great job of laying out a lot of the actions the city has taken leading up to this point as well as another helpful overview of the policy before us.

Yolanda, anything to add?

No, that was a very thorough presentation.

I could speak to next steps quickly if you would like.

Let's just hold that one second.

I see Councilmember Nelson has her hand up.

We'll hear from her and then we'll, if there are no other questions from Councilmembers, we'll turn it back over to you on next steps.

Thank you very much for the presentation.

I've had some conversations individually with some of you, and I really appreciate the detail that you're taking to this.

I feel confident that you are addressing some of the concerns of the stakeholders.

I also want to be confident that our electric utility infrastructure is in good enough shape to handle the additional demand of increased electrification with the move from natural gas to electricity, and also that...

all of the lines and all of the infrastructure, not just to accommodate the demand, but also the distribution and transmission within the city to our customers is in good shape as well.

And I ask because I've sometimes been called to intervene or to alert the utility when neighborhoods or clusters of businesses, especially in Soto, I think that there was an incident in January where there were some outages and unplanned outages.

In any case, we're an aging city and aging society.

utility.

And one of the first pieces of legislation that my committee, the Economic Development Technology and City Light Committee, approved in February 2022 was the City Lights Clean Energy Plan, which also looks at all the how are we going to accommodate additional demand, and that was passed by full council, I think it was on February 2nd.

Anyway, one of the attachments, the resolution does, it's resolution 32040, a resolution relating to City Light Department affirming the City Light Department's clean energy implementation Attachment 1 on page 3 of that plan says, a changing resource mix and new loads from decarbonization across transportation buildings and industries will require City Light to expand beyond hydropower resources, to which I jumped at the opportunity to push anaerobic digestion because we've got a lot of...

businesses that create valuable resources.

Anyway, and then there was also another note on page six.

It says that as a result of decarbonization or moving away from natural gas, City Light will need new energy supply resources in 2026, 27. In any case, This is a big topic, I just want to make sure that you are communicating with city light over planned.

expenditures in the utility needs so that the so that this can happen in a seamless way this the time horizons here are pretty far out right and I just would expect that whatever Seattle city light needs is also on track to accommodate that on a.

an appropriate timeline?

Yeah, so we have been working very closely with Seattle City Light throughout this entire process.

They actually had a representative on our technical advisory group.

And so we're working with their electrification division.

And as you know, they are working on their long-term strategic plan for essentially electrifying both buildings and transportation.

And so I don't want to speak for City Light, but this is essentially going in parallel.

And I know that they have noted to us that having sort of some defined actions and pathways in the building sector will help them with their planning.

And I know that their new resources will all be renewable.

And they need to meet the state's Environmental Transformation Act.

So there's sort of multiple influences influencing what they're doing.

And I think, you know, at some point, maybe it would be useful to have a briefing directly from City Light and, you know, we could help coordinate that.

Anything else, Justin?

You got it.

Anything?

Okay.

Thank you.

Council Member Mosqueda.

Yeah.

Thank you so much.

I just wanted to chime in before the end of the meeting and say thank you again for the opportunity to put this forward.

Thank you to Chair and to the Council President for making this possible.

We have been very thrilled to be able to work with the Office of Sustainability and the Environment.

Thank you very much to Director Farrell for all of her leadership on this and the stakeholders who the office and the team here at the table have convened from labor and climate and housing, building owners, residents, and the utilities who are all involved in crafting this legislation.

Excited that this is now in front of us in November and we have next month as well to take on this legislation and really make sure that we can act with the current council and do everything that we can in one more piece of the puzzle to tackle our local climate emissions crisis.

I am thrilled that this policy is expected to result in at least 10% reduction in city carbon emissions.

That is something that we can celebrate.

And I also recognize that the process that we have in front of us is made possible because of the partnership and leadership of Council Member Herbold working to ensure that something came before us.

Unfortunately, the chair that would usually take this on did not take the initiative to craft it as Councilmember Herbold and myself had suggested last month, which is totally within the purview of the legislative body here.

But acting in partnership with the executive, Councilmember Herbold has been able to coordinate with other members of this council and I'm thrilled to be listed as a co-sponsor along with Council Member Strauss.

And I just again want to thank the Council President for helping to advance the process here today.

I think paired with the investments that we're making with Jumpstart, Green New Deal investments and shoring up the resilience of our local economy, through the investments that we've made over the past few years with the support of Jumpstart.

This policy in partnership with Jumpstart and the investments that we're making directly into Green New Deal and the Green New Deal workforce that Jumpstart supports will absolutely strengthen the city's climate response and show our local leadership on climate action.

I'm excited to see that we're taking an opportunity to get this done now.

And again, want to thank the legislators as part of the city council who have made this policy impactful and have allowed for us to move forward with climate policy in this Council without delay, as has been noted by the stakeholders.

Obviously, there's a number of stakeholders that testified today in support, and I know many of those stakeholders would love to see more, but there's broad recognition that this policy is advancing incredibly important policy tenants that can, of course, be built upon in future years.

But this represents, I think, common ground, and it represents the outcome of 125 stakeholder meetings, advisory group meetings, four webinars that have been taking place over the last year and a half in developing this legislation.

So, of course, as everyone knows, as we work on passing legislation, we'll have to continue, of course, to enhance and and expand upon what we're able to accomplish here.

But this is the product of a lot of work and a variety of stakeholders providing feedback.

And I especially want to thank members of the labor community who testified today.

We heard from IBEW, we heard from Martin Luther King County Labor Council, and I want to thank labor for their incredible work and leadership on this as we create good living wage jobs in a green economy.

This policy is very representative of the Blue Green Coalition that I used to be a part of at the Washington State Labor Council.

And the goals and the tenets of that coalition over the years, I think, are exemplified in this legislation as we both build new work opportunities and we call for climate action.

Colleagues, I just want to stress the importance of why we're taking this on right now.

given the conversation we had in public comment and the panelists presentation, we know that without delay, there will be compounding effects and delayed climate action is is not an option.

I feel that this is a meaningful option that the council can take, and I look forward to having this build upon jumpstart, as I noted, but also the work that we did to update the building energy code legislation and investment in supporting trees in Seattle.

Again, thank you, Council Member Strauss, for your leadership on that earlier this year.

I think this also builds on the energy efficiency standards or the meat legislation.

I think Council Member Herbal, you were probably involved in that prior to my coming to council as well, but we were able to act on that in 2018. And we were able to advance the energy efficiency standards legislation that helps to allow for large commercial buildings to implement energy efficiency upgrades or construct new efficient buildings and leverages the energy cost savings to be transferred back to building owners in order to incentivize the investment of energy upgrades.

So this is another good example of where when we pass legislation, we don't just stop there.

We have to keep doing more and more.

And I think that this is the appropriate and next building block for this legislation to come forward.

I want to thank again the climate activists who weighed in today, again recognizing there's so much more that we all want to do, but this is a large-scale climate action that we can take now.

So thank you so much to the work of 350 Seattle, Sierra Club for all of their advocacy, and others that we've heard from as individuals and members of organizations who've helped to spur and shape this local climate policy and are calling for us to make these investments now.

and to our affordable housing advocates, some of whom were mentioned by the panelists as well, but want to specifically note the direct tie into our commitment to building housing and building housing of the future.

Thank you to the Housing Development Consortium for their work to be able to support and advance the goals of building admission reductions and the creation of affordable housing.

Both can occur at the same time and will be accomplished in this legislation.

And to emphasize that within the legislation here we are ramping up multi-family housing we want to recognize the importance of doing everything that we can to build more efficient buildings and also build in our city because when we do it reduces the chance that somebody has to commute an hour or two hours into the city for work or other necessities and we reduce the chance that we will be encroaching on wetland and farmland and forests So this is part of a bigger conversation that we're having about how we can reduce the carbon emissions overall.

And as we do so, as we build efficient buildings within our city, we also then reduce car emissions, which are the number one contributor to carbon emission in our region.

Lastly, I just wanted to say thanks again to our housing nonprofit providers who provided a tremendous amount of technical support.

And the partnership that they're offering to the city will help to bring resources necessary to decarbonize and connect affordable housing providers with local state and federal dollars available to support this energy transition.

Lots of really important technical work has gone into making sure that this will pencil.

And as we heard about the budget investments earlier, thanks again to our panelists for featuring those budget investments.

Many of the investments that we're putting forward in the budget, specifically to housing, are helping to ensure that our housing providers, our nonprofit housing providers, can build housing, can serve residents, and in these investments that we've made this year, can actually build long-term sustainable buildings that reduce energy costs and create greater resilience for both the buildings, our climate, and the residents.

bottom line is i'm thrilled that we're able to take this action here today i recognize that more is needed and we will continue to work on this in future years and i think this is a tangible step that we can take to advance um our our city's commitment to reduce climate emissions and appreciate the thoughtful process that led to us but really the legislative action that's being spearheaded by council member herbold and our council president so thanks for making this possible here today colleagues

Thank you.

And just in addition to the funding that the city is providing and the grants that Seattle is pursuing, as well as incentives to support building decarbonization, I think I also want to lift up some of the other resources that the director's report identified.

The Inflation Reduction Act will invest $400 billion and leverage large additional private capital funds in order to supercharge the clean energy transition.

There are also IRS tax rebates and financial benefits through energy-efficient commercial building deductions up to $5 per square foot.

And then, of course, Washington State's own Climate Commitment Act has generated $1.5 billion to reinvest in decarbonization.

So, yes, a lot to do, a lot of resources and efforts laser-focused on getting it done.

Yolanda, you want to speak to next steps?

So in terms of next steps, so I'd request that any council members who are interested in amendments submit those to me by noon on Friday so that I have time to turn that around and in collaboration with OSC staff by the next committee meeting on Thursday.

I just let you know, we did catch one error.

So there will be one technical amendment, but so just as you all aware, there will be one at least.

Thank you for your equal eye.

And then after that, ideally, the city council will take action, and that's last meeting of the year.

Thank you.

Councilmember Strauss.

Thank you, Councilmember Herbold.

I understand this bill has been heavily stakeholdered for almost a year and a half, I want to say, almost two years.

I heard from public commenters today that the request was no compromise, no delay, and so I'm...

Seeking your advice, Councilmember Herbold, I think my personal opinion would be amendments should not be tacked onto the bill to keep the integrity of this legislation, but just wanted to check in with you.

It's not often that we have a council chambers full of people testifying in favor of the current version of the bill, so I think...

granting the appreciation for director Farrell as well as Sandra for working with with stakeholders the folks that we heard from today is but is also building owners as well and want to also uplift that again as Sandra explained there were some changes made after the SEPA process and to address some of the concerns that we were hearing from the environmental activists and advocates around penalties that those changes were incorporated in this version of the bill.

So I think we've got a good bill here and I hope we can move on it next week without change or week after next without change.

All right.

Any additional?

Yes, Council Member Lewis.

Thank you so much, Councilmember Herbold.

Just really want to not belabor this too much, but express my extreme gratitude to the leadership in the mayor's office, to Mayor Harrell, to Director Farrell, for making sure that we could get this all together and bring this for a final vote this month and get it out the door.

This is a really, really big deal.

Losing any time on this would be a...

really big hit to our overall climate goals since...

Getting existing buildings up to speed is one of the biggest impediments we have in our carbon accounting.

So by getting this done in December, we're not losing any time.

Really appreciate the opportunity to vote for this today and later to vote for this at full council.

And really look forward to seeing how this iterative policy evolves, changes, grows over the course of the next several years to accelerate and you know, hopefully even exceed our climate goals.

So thank you so much and looking forward to voting in favor of this policy.

Thank you.

President Morris.

Thank you.

And again, I just want to quickly because I know everyone I don't want to repeat everything everyone said.

But first of all, thank you, Councilor Herbert, for stepping in.

the leadership here and working um with the executive and myself to get this on the agenda in front of seattle city council i i just want to do a little historical back look here um this all started back in 2006 with the green new deal and then in 2019 when representative um alexander ocasio and senator mark markley i believe um did the house resolution 109 on the on the green new deal and councilmember what you remember at the time as well as Comptroller Herbold, or Comptroller Mosqueda, or those who were there in 2019, that there was a big push from not just the national government, but local government.

And this House Resolution 109 did not pass in the Senate, nationally, obviously.

And we took it upon ourselves back even in 19 to try to do what we could.

And so I want to thank the three mayors that have all handled and had their handprints on this, that just trying to tackle it, the climate crisis at the municipal level, the city level of doing what we can do is no easy feat.

There's the climate crisis, there's the carbon emissions.

We've seen a lot of this material before.

This isn't the first time we've seen this.

We know about buildings.

This isn't all new to those of us who've been obviously paying attention.

because we're elected and we have to see this material and we've seen it in different committees.

So again, um, but the other part of it, which I think people, and I think council member Mosqueda spoke this well as well, and can speak spoke to probably better than I can, but I just want to say that we were not only pushing the climate crisis, reducing our carbon footprint, tackling pollution and the climate damage that has already happened to the community, but also to tribal communities as well.

But we are pushing the creating good paying union jobs.

that you don't have to pick between one or the other.

Just because you believe in the environment doesn't mean you're anti-business, and just because you're business doesn't mean you're anti-environment.

I've watched that no-sum argument discussion, strawman argument my whole life, and it's just not true.

And we saw that when we took out the lower Elwha dams and did other things to restore the environment, still provided jobs, still protected the environment and businesses.

And so this is the shape of things to come.

And I was listening to public comment and it was nice to hear people who talk about the concerns they have for their children and their grandchildren.

And as a new grandmother, and Councilman Herbal knows this as well, that is a real, that's the reality here.

So I don't think we can do this.

We can wait any longer.

I'm glad that we have a former representative in Justin Harrell now in the mayor's office to lead us through this and her staff.

Thank you for all the materials.

And Yolanda, thank you for all the memos.

I think this legislation is amazing.

I think we're ready.

We're ready to do it.

And so I hope, as I've learned, that you lead to leave and you leave a legacy.

And I hope that people can see that we really tried to do the right thing.

And again, Council Member Herbal, thank you for your leadership.

My pleasure.

I'm really excited about getting this across the finish line.

I've been watching its progress for years now, and I know everybody agrees that passing the legislation is one important step, but one of the reasons why it's so important to do it quickly is because all of the work around implementation It's going to take a lot of work, a lot of time, a lot of collaboration.

And so by getting this success of the passage under our belt, that will further empower you, the executive, implementers to continue working with our partners in a productive and helpful way to ensure that this is a successful policy.

The director's report notes that this policy, in combination with existing city and state policies, gets Seattle about halfway towards net zero, and the remaining cumulative emissions will need to be obtained from future policies that address nonresidential and multifamily buildings smaller than 20,000 square feet.

and the single-family sector, beyond those that will already be addressed by the existing residential heating oil conversion program.

So there's a lot to be done.

I also want to just call out something that was included in Yolanda's memo, which is recognition that although there are several other cities that have a BEPS-like program, Seattle was the nation's first municipal building green policy in 2000, requiring that all city-funded projects and renovations over 5,000 square feet of occupied space achieve a leadership in energy and environmental design LEED silver certification, which was later updated to a gold lead certification.

So there's a lot that has been done.

There's a lot to be done.

I also want to thank Christa Valles in the mayor's office for encouraging me to work with my colleagues to bring this forward so we all have a chance to vote on this before many of us move on to other adventures.

So with that, if there are no further questions, the next meeting of the select committee...

Councilmember Nelson.

Dovetailing with what you were about to say, I thought you were going to say if there's no other business, I will be absent on the 8th because I had to reschedule something that was scheduled for...

I had to reschedule something because of the prolonged budget schedule, and so I cannot move it, so I will not be here.

So the next meeting is on the 7th?

Correct.

Okay, I thought you said you couldn't hear the 8th, so...

In any event, the next meeting of the Select Committee on Climate Action is scheduled for Thursday, December 7th.

Appreciate knowing your schedule, Councilmember Nelson.

I think there may be some other absences.

If you can let us know as soon as possible so we can make sure that we have a quorum, that would be appreciated.

And if there are no further comments or questions...

The time is 1126 a.m.

and we are adjourned.

Thank you everybody.

DIRECTOR HAMPSON- Thank you.

Thank you.

DIRECTOR HAMPSON- Recording stopped.