What is the Climate Protection Initiative?
The City of Seattle's Climate Protection Initiative was born in February 2005 when Mayor Nickels pledged that Seattle—the entire community not just City government—would meet or beat the United States' target of the Kyoto Treaty: reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.
To carry out the policies and to achieve the reduction goals set by the Climate Protection Initiative, Mayor Nickels approved the creation of two programs --- the Seattle Climate Action NOW (focusing on residents and households), and the Seattle Climate Partnership (focusing on businesses and organizations).
US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement
In his pledge for Seattle to meet or beat Kyoto, Mayor Nickels also challenged other mayors around the country to do the same in their communities through the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. Today more than 600 mayors have signed on, and they represent in excess of 72 million people from all 50 states. The US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement is now a program of the US Conference of Mayors, which has a recently created a Climate Protection Center to guide and assist cities in meeting their climate goals.
Green Ribbon Commission & Seattle Climate Partnership
Also in February 2005, the Mayor created the Green Ribbon Commission on Climate Protection (GRC), a group of City and community climate leaders charged with developing recommendations to guide Seattle to the Kyoto target. In May 2006, the GRC outlined 18 recommendations to achieve reductions in Seattle's transportation and energy emissions.
Following the GRC report, in September 2006 Mayor Nickels released the Seattle Climate Partnership, which is the City's response to GRC recommendations. Like the Partnership you create as part of Seattle CAN, the City's Partnership outlines actions the City will take to promote the goals of the Climate Protection Initiative.
