King County-Cities Climate Collaboration (K4C) wins national 2016 Climate Leadership Award

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently awarded the King County-Cities Climate Collaboration (K4C), of which the City of Shoreline is a member, one of 17 national leadership awards for its innovative and collaborative local government efforts to reduce carbon pollution and confront climate change.

At the April 4 Shoreline City Council meeting, the King County Director of Climate and Energy Initiatives Megan Smith thanked the Council and City staff for their efforts and partnership with K4C.

Since 2011, King County and a growing list of local cities have been working across political boundaries to set targets, pool resources, and make true progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and confronting climate change.

“By working together, the County and K4C cities are able to have greater impact than working alone,” stated Shoreline Mayor Chris Roberts. “The largest environmental threat we face today is climate change. I’m proud that Shoreline is a national leader in trying to address this very important issue.”

Honored for “Innovative Partnerships,” K4C is one of only 17 organizations, partnerships, or individuals across the United States to win the prestigious recognition from EPA.

The K4C is a voluntary but formal partnership that was formed based on the recognition that neighboring local governments can achieve greater action on climate solutions by working together. Since its inception, K4C has grown to 14 member jurisdictions, representing 75 percent of the county’s 2 million residents.

“I am proud to distinguish the King County-Cities Climate Collaboration for its outstanding actions and dedication to reduce harmful carbon pollution that leads to climate change,” said EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. “K4C is leading the way towards a healthy environment, and demonstrates that meeting challenges of a changing climate can be done.”

The Innovative Partnerships Climate Leadership Awards category recognizes organizations working collaboratively on leading edge climate initiatives. Partnerships have collectively established objectives to measurably address greenhouse gas reduction goals and/or adaptation and resilience activities.

K4C’s accomplishments include:

• Supporting formal adoption of shared near and long term countywide GHG emissions reduction targets of 25 percent by 2020, 50 percent by 2030, and 80 percent by 2050 (2007 baseline).
• Developing a comprehensive shared vision and policy framework for confronting climate change that addresses energy supply, green building, land use, forests, and more.
• Mapping out specific action commitments to reduce emissions that are tailored to King County energy sources, city and county development patterns, and local government areas of influence.
• Partnering on municipal policy and code changes, joint grant funding proposals, and increased influence among other stakeholders at the state level.
• Exploring the potential to partner with local utilities and businesses to jointly invest in and develop a large-scale renewable energy project, such as wind or solar.
• Sharing technical support and learning across K4C members. K4C staff and elected officials from cities large and small now have an extensive network of people on whom they can count for expertise, lessons learned, tools and resources.

K4C partnership members include:

• King County
• City of Bellevue
• City of Burien
• City of Issaquah
• City of Kirkland
• City of Mercer Island
• City of Normandy Park
• City of Redmond
• City of Renton
• City of Sammamish
• City of Seattle
• City of Shoreline
• City of Snoqualmie
• City of Tukwila

Learn more about K4C here.