Earlier this week, Mayor Greg Nickels released a long-awaited study of the city's greenhouse-gas-emission projections, boasting that the city was "on target to meet [its] climate goals." Both daily papers ate up the mayor's account of the report—the Seattle Times declaring, "Seattle reports milestone in cutting emissions."

As both dailies reported, Nickels's greenhouse-gas inventory—released to coincide with the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Summit in Seattle later this week—does show that in 2005, total emissions were down 8 percent below 1990 levels, or slightly better than the 7 percent reduction by 2012 called for in the Kyoto Protocol. That's good news, and it comes mostly from City Light, which has taken steps to become "carbon neutral."

The bad news Nickels didn't mention, however, is that emissions from transportation—the source of 56 percent of carbon emissions in the Northwest—actually increased during the study period. Moreover, Nickels's own green-ribbon commission predicted that emissions from transportation will continue to rise between now and 2012. In fact, according to Nickels's own projections, Seattle will fall short of its Kyoto goal by nearly 700,000 tons of carbon a year. Almost all of that increase will be caused by gasoline and diesel burned by cars and trucks—making it unlikely that, in the absence of real policy shifts to discourage driving and encourage alternatives, we'll meet the Kyoto target. (The latest science suggests that the Kyoto goals are now inadequate.)

The P-I didn't quite get that point, urging residents to take personal action to reduce carbon emissions. That's a good first step, but in the absence of systemic change (more rail, tolls to pay for them), individual action (keeping tires inflated, turning down thermostats) is mostly symbolic.

As Nickels's own head of climate protection, Steve Nicholas, told the council earlier this month, the inventory "will show... that when we project out to 2012, we will lose ground toward the target because of growth, particularly growth in motor-vehicle emissions."

Nickels spokesman Marty McOmber says Nickels recognizes a 7 percent reduction is inadequate, and is working on ways to reduce our reliance on cars, like opening the new South Lake Union streetcar. And while Nickels doubtless shares the goal of reducing emissions, he'd be more convincing if he didn't support proposals—like a new underground freeway on the waterfront, or the emissions-boosting roads and transit ballot measure—that make them worse. recommended