My latest project, currently underway at HBS, is investigating the rise of sustainable buildings in Seattle—one of the most climate-forward development cultures in the U.S. Seattle leads the nation in ILFI Zero Carbon–certified buildings, with high-performance projects across commercial, residential, and mixed-use real estate.

These buildings are chart-setting a new norm for state-of-the-art development. The Watershed Building, pictured right, is a swanky office headquarters that was sold on the market for $65 million in 2021, double the average per-square-foot price in Seattle at the time​. 3Zero3, a 112-apartment 11-story high rise, was the first of such a building to earn Zero Carbon certification, optimized by high-tech sensors that monitored the real-time energy consumption of each unit.

But the real story is why, or how, this is happening. What's in the Seattle atmosphere that has instilled such alignment across big companies, climate-forward utilities, and involved community groups that have so seamlessly integrated climate saliency into normal practice? Are there facets of Seattle's model and leadership that can inspire similar development practices in other important cities?