It’s budget season for local governments in Washington! Which means it’s time to talk again about funding climate work, which is crucial in lowering energy costs and protecting us from extreme heat, wildfire smoke, and more. Local governments have a key role to play in making climate policy gains and clean energy benefits tangible in people’s lives.
We recently discussed a growing trend of governments using money specifically intended for climate and diverting it to other purposes. We’ve checked out King County’s recently released budget and are happy to give it a thumbs up!
King County has been a leader in the climate space for years, emphasizing environmental justice through policies and programs that not only protect BIPOC, low-income, and other underserved communities from climate change, but also distribute benefits of the rising clean energy economy to those communities. The current budget process is crucial to continuing the County’s climate leadership.
We still need your help to see the whole budget process through and ensure that key climate justice investments and support for staff are being prioritized including:
- $1.25 million to expand the Energize program in airport-adjacent communities to install heat pumps, air filtration, and other clean energy upgrades
- $1.23 million for the climate-related workforce development and community resilience grants
- $900,000 for a new public EV fast-charger in an overburdened airport-adjacent community, as well as developing a needs assessment for public EV charging in King County
- $475,000 to develop community-trusted sites that have cooling and battery system back-up
- $100,000 to scale up a program that distributes sunshades and portable air
- No reductions in climate staff
Tell King County Council to fund climate investments and adequate staffing for 2027!
How does King County lead on climate?
King County’s Strategic Climate Action Plan (SCAP), originally passed in 2020 and updated in 2025, set an ambitious blueprint for actions to both reduce climate pollution and adapt to the impacts of climate change. The SCAP emphasizes environmental justice, focusing not only on protecting BIPOC, low-income, and other underserved communities from climate change, but also on distributing clean energy benefits through investments like workforce development and others.
King County has directly implemented many clean energy solutions. They’ve worked to begin electrifying the vast King County Metro bus fleet and directed the installation of electric vehicle (EV) chargers. When it comes to our homes and buildings, King County’s energy code is helping encourage all-electric new commercial and multifamily buildings in unincorporated King County. It also addresses existing homes through its highly-successful Energize Program, which provides heat pumps and energy efficiency upgrades for low- and moderate-income households, multifamily housing, community spaces, and adult and family homes and childcare centers.
The County also has an innovative funding model called the Climate Cost Share, that works similarly to a carbon price. Each department calculates their expected climate pollution for the coming year and pays a proportionate amount into a fund. This ensures that the highest-polluting departments are helping to subsidize the climate work of lower-resourced departments.
What’s next?
We need King County Council to approve this budget. Along with the priorities I highlighted above, it’s also crucial that councilmembers do not reduce staffing for these climate work. Staff at King County have the institutional knowledge and trust from the community to ensure that their programs are creating real benefits for the most overburdened, and they need to be retained to continue that excellent work. The full council will vote on the final proposed budget on November 24th.
