Leading green execs: Greg Nickels

When Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels took office in 2002, climate change was a backburner issue. “Like most people, I had heard about it, but it seemed like a future problem that was a long way off and probably of more concern to people elsewhere in the country and in the world,” he says.

That changed during an unusually warm winter in 2004-2005 that canceled the ski season and greatly impacted Seattle’s water supply and hydroelectric power systems. “It made it very clear that systems we are very dependent on, and have been for over a century, are very susceptible to climate change,” Nickels says.

Just as Nickels was realizing the potential impact climate change could have on his city, 141 countries were preparing to sign the Kyoto Protocol. “It didn’t makes sense to me that the U.S. was not only not showing leadership in this area, but not even signing the Protocol,” Nickels says.

So he decided that, at the very least, Seattle would sign on—and he set about encouraging other mayors to follow suit in the hopes that, as he puts it, the pledge would become more real. The initial goal was to sign on 141 mayors to represent the 141 countries that signed the Kyoto Protocol, according to Nickels. There are now 840 mayors who have signed on to the U.S. Mayors Climate Action Agreement, representing nearly 80 million American citizens. “The agreement goes well beyond a symbolic action, we are taking real actions and it’s having a direct effect,” says Nickels, adding that he wants to push beyond Kyoto, which he says just scratches the surface.

Although there was some push-back against Mayor Nickels’ plan initially—particularly when he increased parking fees early on to encourage transit use—he says Seattle residents now largely back environmental initiatives. And Nickels’ leadership has also helped brand Seattle, which he says has been good for business.

“One thing the Bush administration has used as an excuse for not signing the Kyoto Protocol is that meeting its provisions would destroy the economy,” Nickels says. “Obviously we have a stake in that; we have great companies here that build airplanes and trucks,” Nickels says. “But I think changing from a fossil fuel–based economy to a renewable resources–based economy creates more economic opportunities than it destroys, and the people who are early to the game will be winners.”