KOMO News: Seattle mayor signs new building emissions policy into law

SEATTLE — Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell signed a new policy into law Wednesday morning aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from existing buildings in the city.

Seattle City Council unanimously passed the “Building Performance Emission Standard” (BEPS) legislation on Tuesday.

The legislation was described as the “most ambitious plan to reduce building emissions in Seattle history.” The Seattle mayor’s office said the policy is projected to reduce building emissions by 27% by 2050 while creating local jobs in the green economy.

The BEPS will require owners of existing buildings larger than 20,000-square-feet to reduce the building’s greenhouse gas emissions incrementally. Large building owners can choose what investments they make, as long as they meet the greenhouse gas reduction targets.

Seattle City Council said the bill will work also in tandem with the new state regulations.

The legislation is the first time a Seattle law will specifically target existing buildings’ greenhouse gas emissions, which account for 37% of the city's total core emissions, according to the Seattle City Council.

The city of Seattle will offer assistance to building owners with fewer resources to meet the goals, including nonprofit organizations.

“The ultimate goal is to reach net zero emissions for these buildings by 2050,” according to a news release about the legislation.

The mayor’s office said the building emissions that will be reduced from the legislation is “the equivalent of taking 72,322 gasoline-powered cars off the road for a year.”

“Addressing greenhouse gas emissions is one of the greatest challenges of our time,” said Seattle Councilmember Lisa Herbold, who sponsored the legislation. “Future generations will look back to this moment and judge us by what we did today to address our climate crisis. We experience the impacts here in Seattle: extreme heat, drought, and forest fire haze during the summer and even autumn has become normal. It's time for us to take big swings and make sure we’re doing everything we can – for ourselves and for all future generations of Seattleites. I’m proud to have had the opportunity to answer the call from Mayor Harrell, the Office of Sustainability and Environment, and advocates to sponsor and shepherd this legislation through the Council in our last weeks of 2023.”

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