Ramping Up Building Decarbonization: Planning for Scale, Pace, and Equity at the Local Level

Building sector emissions in Washington state have increased 50% since 1990. To meet statutory emissions limits, Washington must reduce building emissions by 100% by 2050.

Many local governments in the state share these goals and are attempting to decarbonize buildings at a scale and pace that will require a fundamental shift in the building sector. In 2023, the City of Tacoma developed a Community Building Decarbonization Strategy with the goal of ensuring a hyper local, data driven building decarbonization approach that prioritizes equity and affordability.

This presentation will discuss the key strategy development methods, including the strategy framework for how policies and programs must be designed to quickly ramp up a high-performing building sector ecosystem by 2030; an impact assessment to identify a detailed decarbonization pathway; and an implementation roadmap to establish targets and milestones, timeline phases, strategies, and objectives to equitably decarbonize Tacoma’s homes and commercial buildings by 2050.

The final Strategy report emphasizes community-driven actions and the need to collaborate and coordinate policy development and funding strategies with utilities, other jurisdictions and agencies, and Washington state. Core strategies include policies and targets, rapid market transformation, expanding funding and financing, increasing implementation capacity and supporting collaborative utility transition planning.