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Sustainable Century Awards
Previously known as Environmental Excellence Awards
The Port of Seattle annually recognizes outstanding environmental accomplishments of customers, tenants, non-profits, and business partners of all sizes with the annual Sustainable Century Awards. Award winners serve as role models and demonstrate exceptional environmental accomplishments and leadership in their operations at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) and Port of Seattle maritime facilities. These businesses also recognize and partner with the Port to help it achieve its environmental stewardship and sustainability goals set forth in the Century Agenda.
Environmental Performance Award – Alaska Marine Lines reduced diesel fuel use and air emissions by 75% and increased use of local clean electricity through high efficiency transport refrigeration units and timeshare electric panels. Energy reductions in 2023 amounted to over 1 million gallons of diesel, which equals nearly 11,000 (10,701) metric tons of carbon dioxide–equivalent emissions. This level of greenhouse gas reductions is equivalent to taking 2,547 gas-powered cars off the road or the energy use of 1,396 homes annually.
Environmental Innovation and Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Awards – The Muckleshoot Indian Tribe’s Fish Commission improved sockeye salmon survival in the Lake Washington migration corridor through the Ballard Locks Adult Sockeye Transport (BLAST) program. Since 2021, salmon pre-spawn mortality has dropped from 80% for salmon in natural transit to 1% for those transported to a hatchery in Issaquah via BLAST. BLAST is an innovative program that allows transported fish to avoid the heat, disease, and other hazards of the Lake Washington watershed.
Environmental Education and Outreach Award – Quiet Sound’s collaborative effort reduced underwater noise by 45% with voluntary commercial vessel slowdowns through the Admiralty Inlet corridor in Puget Sound between Whidbey Island and the Olympic Peninsula. Underwater noise is a key concern for Southern Resident killer whales, in addition to reduced Chinook salmon populations and poor water quality. By working across private and public sectors, 70% of vessels decreased their speed during an 80-day slowdown with minimal maritime trade and no safety impacts.
Environmental Innovation Award – Small Business – Stormwater Controls invented and manufactures the Retain Drain in the Pacific Northwest. This system uses coconut coir filters (a renewable resource) in a high-quality metal frame to remove litter and other contaminants from stormwater before it enters the Salish Sea. Stormwater Controls data show as much as 95% reduction of organic matter, solids, and trash in stormwater after it passes through Retain Drain.
Environmental Performance and Innovation Award – Alaska Airlines became the first U.S. airline to eliminate single-use plastic cups from in-flight service and implemented an innovative carbon offset program for passengers in partnership with climate technology company CHOOSE.
Environmental Performance and Innovation Award – Constructed in 2023, Salty’s at the SEA and Brewtop Social became the first SEA restaurants to achieve the USGBC LEED certification. Owned by the minority- and woman-owned family business Concessions International, the restaurants reduced lighting power by 47%, used 72% Energy Star–rated equipment, and diverted 57% of construction waste.
Environmental Performance Award – Condor is leading the industry in the transition to fuel-efficient aircraft that reduces emissions and noise pollution at SEA and throughout their network. In just one year, they went from 0% to 81% of their flights through SEA using modern aircraft to address those emission and noise goals.
Environmental Performance Award – McDonald’s voluntarily transitioned their SEA location to a fully electric-powered restaurant in 2023. By replacing all natural-gas cooking and heating equipment with electric alternatives, McDonald’s eliminated all natural gas emissions and inspired a similar requirement for all food and beverage tenants in the upcoming C Concourse Expansion.
Environmental Performance Award – Uber’s strong 2023 performance in advancing electric vehicle use led to an increase of 180% in zero-emission vehicle trips at SEA. Uber also noted growth of zero-emission and hybrid vehicle trips at cruise facilities, and provided products that help educate passengers and improve trip efficiency.
Greatest use of Pre-Conditioned Air Ground Systems – Southwest Airlines earned recognition for the highest use of airport ground power and pre-conditioned air systems which helps reduce emissions and conserve power.
Highest Percentage of Fuel-Efficient Aircraft – Delta Air Lines operated a 40% fuel-efficient fleet (up from 25% last year) compared to the next-highest performer, who achieved 28%.
2022 Maritime Sustainable Century Award for Environmental Performance — Lineage Logistics for investments in energy savings for the fishing industry. Lineage invested in updates to its cold storage facilities to save 1.2 million kilowatt hours per year by adding LED lighting with automatic sensors and installing new rail doors and high-speed doors on cold storage areas to reduce energy loss from freezers that maintain a -15F temperature. This included the installation of new variable frequency compressors and evaporators that adjust for demand instead of running 24/7.
2022 Maritime Sustainable Century Award for Environmental Education & Outreach and Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion — ECOSS for the initiation and facilitation of two notable outdoor education and sustainable natural resources programs among Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), immigrant, and refugee communities in King County. This included a transit-to-parks outing to Little Mount Si in collaboration with the Washington Trails Association, The Wilderness Association, and King County Metro and Parks teams that introduced over 66 community members aged 4 to 50+ to hiking in regional natural areas. The second was the adoption of a habitat restoration site in Seward Park in collaboration with Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust, Green Seattle Partnership, and Seward Park Audubon Center, and working with over 40 participants for habitat restoration events.
2022 Maritime Sustainable Century Award for Environmental Innovation — The Seattle Aquarium for three innovations in support of the Urban Kelp Research Project to understand bull kelp populations in Puget Sound. This included the use of remotely operated vehicle survey methods to expand the area and amount of data gathered, artificial intelligence analysis to process and generate orders of magnitudes of the video received across Puget Sound, and open access research to ensure current and future conservation and restoration programs are effective and efficient. The program also received an honorable mention for equity, diversity, and inclusion for its partnership with Sea Potential LLC., which exposes BIPOC communities to maritime careers.
2022 Aviation Sustainable Century Award for Environmental Innovation/Performance — HMSHost for their participation with the Port on a pilot project to evaluate alternatives to single-use plastic bottled beverages sold at SEA. The pilot continues today, gathering real-world feedback about the availability of aluminum, glass or paper drink packaging alternatives and customer demand from side-by-side sales. HMSHost also began offering aluminum water bottles in quick-serve and sit-down restaurants and partnered with a restaurant oil maintenance and recycling vendor that reduced HMSHost’s oil use at SEA by 11,500 lbs. and recycled 28,200 lbs. of used oil into biodiesel.
2022 Aviation Sustainable Century Award for Environmental Performance — UBER is recognized for advancing electric vehicle (EV) use and driver access to EVs at SEA. The number of EV rideshare trips in 2022 tripled between Q1 and Q4 2022. UBER also lowered its eKPI score by 17% to reduce emissions by 2.5 million lbs. of CO2 in 2022 from Q2 to Q4. Additionally, UBER has partnered with Hertz to offer discounted Tesla EV rentals with higher earnings potential for drivers that utilize the program. In total, more than 24 million trips have been completed for more than 260 million road miles to date. Finally, UBER offers driver incentives for EV trips, in-app resources, and expanded customer offerings while supporting efforts to provide equitable charging access for drivers.
2022 Aviation Sustainable Century Award for the greatest use of airport ground power and pre-conditioned air systems — Southwest Airlines. The airline utilized ground power for 92% of operations and stayed connected for 81% of the turn time. Additionally, 65% of operations connected to pre-conditioned air and stayed connected for 75% of turn times. Southwest’s efficient ground crew teams consistently use these systems, which allow aircraft to reduce idling and emissions while at gates.
2022 Aviation Sustainable Century Award for highest percentage use of fuel-efficient aircraft — Delta Air Lines. Of the aircraft Delta operated at SEA in 2022, 25% were highly fuel-efficient, including Airbus A220s, A321neos, A330neos, and A350 aircraft. Using modern fuel-efficient aircraft reduces fuel consumption and emissions.
2022 Maritime Award goes to Fishermen’s Finest. In 2021, Fishermen’s Finest (FFI) became the first commercial fishing fleet to both join Green Marine and achieve certification in the Green Marine environmental certification program for the maritime industry. FFI’s goal is to become a net-zero carbon fleet, building a new fishing vessel, the America’s Finest (262-foot), that reduces fuel consumption by 66 percent. FFI also invested in the first sale of King County urban forest carbon credits and represents the lowest carbon footprint of the Bering Sea Trawl Fleet.
2022 Aviation Award goes to Bellair Charters / Airporter Shuttle. Notable achievements include long-term, innovative partnership supporting SEA’s Raptor Strike Avoidance Program that helps protect local wildlife, increase SEA operational safety by reducing bird-strike risk, avoided 70 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions over 10 years, and generated labor and financial savings for the Port. Since 2011, Bellair voluntarily transported nearly 800 birds of prey (i.e., raptors) captured at SEA under the Raptor Strike Avoidance Program using their own vehicle fleet on return routes to Burlington, Wash. Sixteen species of raptors, including red-tailed hawks, were transported from SEA to farmland habitat near the community of Bow for tagging and release to the wild. More than 90 percent of relocated birds stay and never return to the airport.
2022 Aviation Award goes to Southwest for greatest airline use of ground power systems to reduce emissions while docked at SEA airport gates. Southwest demonstrated a high use of emission-reducing ground power systems (80-90% of all operations connect to the systems), and longest connectivity to ground power systems while at gate (over 80% of the time between gate arrival and pushback).
2022 Aviation Award goes to Delta Air Lines for operating at SEA the highest percentage use of modern, fuel-efficient aircraft that reduce emissions. Of the aircraft Delta operated at SEA in 2021, 16% were highly fuel-efficient, such as Airbus A220s, A330neos, and A350s, compared to other high-operation carriers who achieved closer to 7%.
2022 Equitable Recovery Award goes to SSA Marine/Carrix. In addition to being proactive and collaborating with government and health care to keep trade and cruise operations functioning during the COVID-19 pandemic, they supported equitable recovery for the broader community by contributing space, equipment, and volunteers to Food Lifeline to increase capacity and meet increased community needs, as well as volunteer staff from Carrix, ran a two-week vaccine clinic in Seattle.
Honorable Mention for environmental innovation goes to Whooshh Innovations. This company invented a promising technology for salmon runs where fish passage is impeded, which contributes to supporting a critical food source for Southern Resident Killer Whale. Following a landslide on the Fraser River, in British Columbia, that threatened to block passage for all salmon runs in Canada’s largest salmon watershed, Whooshh deployed its “Passage Portal”™ in record time before the returning adult salmon arrived so they could migrate over and around the blockage. The Passage Portal removed the need for human handling, trap, and helicopter transport of tens of thousands of salmon during the summer and fall of 2020, which would not otherwise have been feasible or affordable. A significant improvement for fish passage, the Portal incorporates electronic tracking. During the first season of use, more than 125,000 salmon were counted upstream of the Big Bar rockslide.