Council told draft environmental sustainability plan keeps Redmond on track for long‑term climate goals; staff set Dec. 2 consent vote
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Summary
City sustainability staff presented the draft 2025 Environmental Sustainability Action Plan (ESAP), emphasizing five 'big moves' that focus on buildings, energy, transportation, waste and natural systems; staff said the draft keeps the community pathway to carbon neutrality by 2050 and recommended placing the final plan on Dec. 2 consent agenda, subject to continued monitoring of Puget Sound Energy targets.
Jenny Liebeck, Sustainability Program Manager, and staff presented the draft 2025 Environmental Sustainability Action Plan, which they said is built on five priority areas — energy/buildings, transportation, waste, natural systems and community resilience — and informed by community and tribal consultation.
Micah Bonkowski, sustainability program administrator, summarized the plan’s data analysis: "Of our total greenhouse gas emissions, building energy and fossil use make up about 70%." Staff said they narrowed the plan to 62 actions across 10 strategies and added new water and natural‑systems actions in response to public feedback. The plan assumes Puget Sound Energy will provide substantially cleaner electricity by 2030, a key variable staff said they monitored with contingency actions such as grid‑capacity studies and local mitigation measures.
Staff reported substantial engagement — open office hours, contracted community‑based organization outreach and tribal consultation — and said the tribes provided substantive recommendations, particularly around natural systems. Council asked about contingencies if the utility transition is delayed; staff said they had briefed PSE during plan development, added actions to mitigate grid constraints locally, and will monitor and report on PSE progress at annual updates.
Council indicated no objection to referring the final ESAP to the Dec. 2 consent agenda for adoption, and staff said they will provide the annual metrics and a comparative list showing which indicators are new or revised since the prior plan.
Next steps: staff will finalize the draft and place it on the Dec. 2 agenda; after adoption they plan quarterly qualitative updates and an annual quantitative 'year of action' report, with biannual GHG inventories.
