CREATING A WORLD CLASS SUSTAINABLE CITY

The Office of Sustainability & Environment (OSE) advances smart, effective urban sustainability policies and programs that address Seattle's environmental challenges while creating vibrant communities and building shared prosperity. We develop these initiatives through research, data driven analytics, and collaboration across City departments and community stakeholders. 

Seattle's environmental work is integrated throughout nearly all City departments. More information about Seattle's citywide environmental programs and actions can be found on this site. 

Explore Seattle's Work In These Areas:

Climate Change

Charting the path to
Carbon Neutral by 2050.

Food

Access to healthy, affordable food
is vital to an equitable and
sustainable community.

Buildings & Energy

Promoting high performance buildings, conserving energy, and increasing access to clean energy sources.

Waste

Seattle is a national leader
and has set aggressive goals
for the future.

Trees & Open Space

Trees and open spaces are integral to healthy urban environments.

Transportation
& Land Use

Policies to create vibrant, safe,
transit-oriented communities and reduce climate emissions.

Water

Ensuring clean, plentiful water for people and habitats.

The Office of Sustainability and Environment delivers cutting-edge policies and effective programs to address Seattle's environmental challenges while creating vibrant communities and building shared prosperity. Visit the Key Initiatives page to see a list of all the program focus areas for our office.

More examples for each area below can be found in our 2013 Accomplishments Report.

BREAK NEW GROUND

We develop and test forward-looking approaches. For example, following three years of focused effort by OSE, Seattle is poised to be one of the first cities in the United States to develop a district energy system that uses waste heat from sewer lines and data centers to heat buildings.

CREATE MEASURABLE IMPACT

We deliver measurable results that advance the City's environmental goals. For example, OSE worked with its partners to launch the second year of Fresh Bucks, a program that doubles the purchasing power of low-income residents at Seattle farmers markets. In its second year, Fresh Bucks helped more than 2,500 low-income residents buy healthy produce at Seattle farmers markets.

CHART A PATH FORWARD

We create bold and strategic action plans for achieving Seattle's environmental goals. OSE worked closely with Seattle Public Utilities to develop and adopt Seattle's first community-wide implementation goal for green stormwater infrastructure: managing 700 million gallons of stormwater runoff annually with green infrastructure by the year 2025.

2012-13 City Building Energy Performance Report

The City of Seattle released its second annual Municipal Buildings Energy Use Performance Report  which reports 2012-2013 energy use for 8.1 million square feet of City-owned buildings. Reducing energy use in City facilities is just one element of the City's larger Climate Action Plan, which aims to reduce the overall energy use in Seattle's building stock 45% for commercial buildings and 63% for residential buildings by 2050. 

Seattle recognized as the nation's most sustainable city by STAR Communities

STAR is a national organization which evaluates the livability and sustainability of U.S. communities; Seattle received a 5-STAR rating.

Comparison of the 2012 Seattle Energy Code with ASHRAE 90.1-2010

A strong energy code is one of Seattle's key tools for achieving significant reductions in energy use in the building sector and reaching the city's ambitious goal of carbon neutrality. This report, released June 30, 2014, shows that Seattle's buildings are, in aggregate, at least 11.3% more energy efficient than buildings constructed to the ASHRAE standard used by the US Green Building Council's LEED rating system.