Lucia Athens, LEED AP
Chief Sustainability Officer, City of Austin
Lucia Athens is the City of Austin’s first Chief Sustainability Officer. In that role, shechampions positive actionsto ensure Austin’s bright, green future. Lucia is a passionate leader, set on accelerating innovation; instilling a culture of responsibility in large organizations; greening codes and policies; and engaging in productive disruptions and sustainability myth busting.
Lucia is author of the Island Press bookBuilding an Emerald City: A Guide to Creating Green Building Policies and Programs.She is currently working on her next book entitled Sustainability is a State of Mind. Lucia began her career in public service at the City of Austin as a key member of the development team for Austin Energy’s Green Building program in the early 1990's. From there, Lucia spent 10 years leading the City of Seattle's green building program; during her tenure, Seattle was widely recognized as a trailblazing leader in sustainability. She rejoined the City of Austin in 2010 and has worked tirelessly to enhance Austin’s reputation as a leading green city.Under Lucia’s guidance, the Office of Sustainability has accomplished many ground-breaking achievements:
- created the Austin Green Business Leaders and Bright Green Future Grants programs to support local companies and schools in their efforts to go green;
- had Austin certified as a four-Star sustainable community using the STAR community index, and established sustainability performance reporting frameworks and an online reporting dashboardfor both community and municipal operationsperformance;
- developed a Community Climate Plan for Austin, aiming towards a carbon neutral City by 2050, by leveraging energy conservation, alternative mobility, and waste reduction;
- launched the Seaholm EcoDistrict initiative, advancing sustainability innovation at the neighborhood scale through green buildings, green infrastructure, and place-making;
- launched a behavior-based sustainability mobile app called Rethink/ Austin; a public campaign highlighting local Austinites entitled Net Zero Heroes, and an animated short film about climate change in Austin;
Lucia has served on the National Board of Directors for the U.S. Green Building Council, Green Building Certification Institute, EcoDistricts, and currently the Texas Architectural Foundation. She also has collaborated on design projects with the Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems, Rocky Mountain Institute, U.S. Global Green, and the University of Texas .
In 2014, Lucia represented the City of Austin at the C40 Mayors Climate Leadership Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, and facilitated the Sustainable Buildings Working Group at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado. She was also recently a keynote speaker at The Economist’s Urban Infrastructure Summit in London, and the Advanced Leadership Foundation’s Green Economy: Consciousness and Action Summit in Argentina.
Lucia describes herself as a “spark plug for positive change” and a “practical idealist.” Fully embracing Austin’s vibrant and creative culture, she loves to meet with other change agents at local food trailers to discuss green alleys,carbon neutrality, and the Rethink/ Austin mobile app.
Connect with Lucia on LinkedIn ( or Twitter (@Lucia Athens).
Contact Lucia at or (512) 974-5603.
To learn more about the City of Austin Office of Sustainability, see