Published January 13 2025
The City of Bellevue Monday released its 2023 greenhouse gas emissions inventory (executive summary), both citywide and municipal operations results. While citywide emissions rose by 4.5% from 2022 – due to a return to pre-pandemic travel and work patterns – emissions are still below prepandemic levels.
According to the inventory, 2023 emissions from city municipal operations, unlike citywide emissions, declined by 4% from the previous year, driven by ongoing efforts to electrify the city’s fleet, improve building energy performance and invest in renewable energy.
Bellevue’s 4.5% overall citywide emissions rise was driven by increased commercial energy usage, rising transportation emissions as travel returned to prepandemic levels and Puget Sound Energy’s increased use of electricity generated from natural gas in 2023.
The findings released this week showed that most of Bellevue’s citywide emissions came from residential and commercial buildings, along with transportation emissions that include passenger vehicles, trucks, buses and airplanes.
“The city continues to lead by example,” said Mayor Lynne Robinson. “Since 2011, we’ve reduced city municipal emissions by 54%, exceeding our goal of a 50% reduction by 2030 a full five years ahead of schedule. But with increased citywide travel, energy use and reliance on electricity generated from fossil fuels, our community must persist in our efforts to ensure that we are doing the work to support a more sustainable future for our planet.”
Bellevue’s 2023 citywide emissions were 7.7% lower than 2011 – the city’s baseline year – despite a 25% population growth and 26% jobs increase over that span. In addition, per capita emissions had declined by 26% since 2011, illustrating the significance of new transit-oriented developments in Bellevue.
Bellevue, through its Environmental Stewardship initiative, continues to have aggressive greenhouse goals and remains steadfast in meeting its targets through efforts like its recently launched Sustainable Bellevue Plan Update. This work will refine the city’s strategies for achieving its 2030 and 2050 sustainability goals, including greenhouse gas reduction goals.
Community members are encouraged to attend the Sustainable Bellevue town hall meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 15, at Puesta del Sol Elementary School. At the meeting, people can learn more about the 2023 inventory, understand Bellevue’s steps to enhance sustainability and reduce emissions, and provide input on the Sustainable Bellevue Plan update.
Results from the 2023 greenhouse gas emissions inventory and other sustainability performance metrics are available on Bellevue’s Environmental Performance Dashboard. The city also released a revised 2022 greenhouse gas inventory (executive summary) with updated data related to Bellevue residents’ air travel.