Eastside carbon emissions still below pre-pandemic levels, studies find

Climate Lab is a Seattle Times initiative that explores the effects of climate change in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. The project is funded in part by The Bullitt Foundation, Jim and Birte Falconer, Mike and Becky Hughes, University of Washington and Walker Family Foundation, and its fiscal sponsor is the Seattle Foundation.

Greenhouse gas emissions from most Eastside cities remain below the highs seen before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to analyses of 2022 emissions from Redmond, Bellevue, Mercer Island, Issaquah and Kirkland.

Each of the cities began keeping track of emissions in different years, but this is the first time the cities have released their findings together and used the same methodologies to account for carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases released from activities such as driving, warming and cooling of buildings, garbage disposal and wastewater treatment. The reports are the result of the “Eastside Climate Partnership” that launched last year.

While the decrease in emissions is driven by different factors across the five cities, remote and hybrid work arrangements have reduced driving significantly, said Jenny Lybeck, Redmond environmental sustainability program manager. All five cities have climate goals of reducing their emissions by 50% by 2030 and 95% by 2050.

The city of Seattle and the state also tally annual emissions, though they have not released updated counts past 2020 and 2019, respectively. The state saw its highest level of greenhouse gas emissions in over a decade in 2019 due to an increase in electricity demand and poor hydropower production, forcing utilities to rely on coal and methane for electricity.

Despite population growth, Bellevue and Redmond found their 2022 emissions were below 2011 levels, when both cities started tracking emissions. In addition to more remote workers, Lybeck and Jennifer Ewing, Bellevue sustainability manager, credited the drop in emissions to people transitioning away from methane, improved energy efficiency, the development of dense neighborhoods and utility Puget Sound Energy using less fossil fuel to produce electricity.

“We are having more compact transit-oriented development where people live close to future light rail stations or bus stations that help reduce the vehicle miles traveled and help people live a more sustainable lifestyle,” Lybeck said.

Ewing said she looks forward to seeing how the new Eastside light rail trains will change emissions for the two cities as they begin running later this month. Some offices have also brought more workers back in person since 2022 and the results for 2023 may reflect “the post-COVID new normal,” Lybeck said.

People living and working in Issaquah and Kirkland reduced emissions since 2017, the first year of counted emissions in the reports, largely due to declines in transportation, electricity and methane-related emissions. Mercer Island saw an increase in emissions compared to 2017 because of more transportation activity.

Bellevue, Redmond and Mercer Island all saw increases in communitywide emissions, such as from powering buildings and transportation, compared to 2020, likely reflecting more people returning to the office, Lybeck said. It is unclear whether Issaquah and Kirkland have seen increased emissions since 2020 because the two cities last calculated their emissions in 2019.

The cities also separately have tracked and analyzed emissions from municipal operations, such as powering city buildings and wastewater treatment. Lybeck said reductions in municipal emissions have been driven by the five cities’ participation in Puget Sound Energy’s Green Direct Program, which allows commercial and governmental customers to purchase energy from dedicated, local renewable energy resources.

The cities all have relatively small sustainability offices and the Eastside Climate Partnership allows the cities to share staff and best practices, Lybeck said. The five cities have also pooled funds to build a heat pump program that helps people electrify their homes, she said.

“I’m a team of one and so by working with the other Eastside cites, it’s allowed me to basically expand my team to a team of six-plus,” Lybeck said.

The five Eastside cities hired Cascadia Consulting Group to tally up greenhouse gas emissions of living and working from the cities and the emissions from municipal government operations. The firm has also estimated emissions for the city of Seattle and the University of Washington.

Between 2008 and 2018, Seattle saw a modest decrease in emissions, despite population growth. The largest decrease occurred in 2020, due to less people traveling during the pandemic. Before 2020, Seattle had been decreasing emissions associated with powering buildings, industrial energy use and residential and commercial waste treatment.

Material from The Seattle Times archive were used in this report.