Virginia is located on the East Coast of the United States, midway between the southern tip of Florida and the northern coast of Maine. The state stretches almost 430 miles west to east and includes the southern tip of the Delmarva Peninsula on the eastern side of the Chesapeake Bay. The coastal plain that occupies the eastern part of Virginia includes the nation’s largest coal export port. To the west, the flat coastal plain meets the rolling hills and basins of the Piedmont region along a boundary known as the Fall Line because it is characterized by rapids and waterfalls. However, most of the state’s hydroelectric power plants are further west, where the rolling hills of the Piedmont rise into the Blue Ridge Mountains. The valleys and ridges that occupy the western part of the state are parallel to the spine of the Appalachian Mountains and, along with the Appalachian Plateau, contain most of the state’s coal, the primary energy resource produced in Virginia. The Appalachian Plateau, which cuts across the southwestern corner of Virginia, also holds almost all the state’s crude oil and natural gas fields. Nearly two-thirds of Virginia is forested, and the state’s widely distributed forests hold abundant biomass resources. Virginia has offshore wind energy potential as well. Uranium, the source for nuclear fuel, has been discovered near the state’s southern border. The deposit, although not developed, may be one of the nation’s largest.
CLIMATE IMPACTS
Virginia’s climate is changing.
- Most of the state has warmed about one degree in the last century, and Virginia is one of seven states in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast to have record sweltering heat in July, 2020. Predictions are that by 2050, the typical number of heat days will increase from more than 10 days to nearly 60 days a year. •Temperatures are not the only noteworthy statistic in Virginia. The sea is rising one to two inches every decade. Higher water levels are eroding beaches, submerging lowlands, exacerbating coastal flooding, and increasing the salinity of estuaries and aquifers.
- In 2020 two Virginia cities experienced their wettest year on record. In the southwestern part of the state the city of Lynchburg picked up nearly 70 inches of rain, surpassing 2018 as the wettest on record. It was also 0.1 degree shy of their warmest year on record. Things played out similarly in the city of Roanoke, which saw nearly 63 inches of rain beating the previous record from 2018.
- Roanoke also tied 2012 and 2019 for the warmest year on record, with an average temperature of 59.5 degrees.
ENERGY
Natural gas and nuclear power provided the majority of Virginia’s electricity generation in 2023, with natural gas providing 55% and the state’s two nuclear power plants providing 32%. Renewables accounted for 12% of the state’s total generation in 2023, up from 6% in 2019. Solar energy was 7% of total electricity generation. Solar power has been growing rapidly in Virginia; the state’s first utility-scale solar farm came online in 2016, and by 2024 it had almost 100. Biomass was 4% and hydroelectric was less than 2%. Virginia has 25 conventional hydroelectric power plants and 2 pumped-storage hydroelectric facilities, one of which isamong the largest in the world. While coal power plants supplied the largest share of Virginia’s generation until 2009, it accounted for less than 2% in 2023. Natural gas exceeded coal for the first time in 2012, while renewables exceeded coal for the first time in 2019.
LEGISLATION
- In 2007, Governor Tim Kaine established the Governor’s Commission on Climate Change via an Executive Order. The Commission was tasked with creating a climate plan, which was released in 2008 as the Final Report: Climate Change Action Plan.
- The Governor’s Commission was not continued under Gov. Bob McDonnel (2010-2014), but Governor Terry McAuliffe established the Governor’s Climate Change and Resilience Update Commission in 2014. The Update Commission was tasked with updating the 2008 Climate Change Action Plan, and it published the Report and Final Recommendations to the Governorin 2015, which includes actions like appointing a Chief Resilience Officer and developing statewide sea-level rise protocol.
- The Virginia Shoreline Resiliency Fund was established by the state legislature in 2016 and renamed the Virginia Community Flood Preparedness Fundin 2020. The Fund will provide low-interest loans and grants for flood-relief projects.
- Gov. Ralph Northam signed the Virginia Clean Economy Actin April 2020. Not only does it require Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power to be carbon-free by 2045 and 2050 respectively, but it also specifies that having a target of 16.7 gigawatts of solar power produced in Virginia would be in the “public interest.” Additionally, the bill promises to make the state a leader in offshore wind and in energy storage, to shutter nearly all of its coal-fired power plants, and includes provisions to cap energy bills for low-income households.
- Thelargestutility in Virginia, Dominion Energy began its response by divesting its natural gas holdings in November 2020 and then selling its Questar Pipeline subsidiary in October 2021. Dominion Chair, President and CEO Robert M. Blue said in a statement. “This transaction represents another significant step in our evolution as a company, allowing us to focus even more on fulfilling the energy needs of our utility customers and continuing growth of our clean-energy portfolio, including development of the largest offshore wind farm in North America.”
- Dominion also responded with solar and batteries, proposing 15 new energy projects and 32 third-party power purchase agreements, including 11 utility-scale solar projects, a standalone battery energy storageproject, and a collaboration between Dominion and the Nature Conservancy to developone of the first utility-scale solar projects on former surface mines in the coalfields of Southwest Virginia.
- In 2020, the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) released the Virginia Coastal Resilience Master Planning Framework.
- This was followed by the Virginia Coastal Resilience Master Plan Phase Iin December 2021, an analysis of the impacts of tidal and storm surge coastal flooding on the state. DCR is currently in the final stages ofPhase II of the Master Plan, focused on additional sources of flooding, such as rainfall-driven and riverine flooding.
- Since the passage of the Clean Economy Act, clean energy jobs have grown 3.5 times faster than overall employment in Virginia, and carbon pollution from power plants has dropped 22%. As of 2025, Dominion has about 2800 MW of solar capacity approved and 170 MW of battery capacity, with a 5200 megawatt offshore wind project under construction.
- In 2022, Glenn Youngkin was sworn in as governor and has actively sought to reduce Virginia’s focus on climate action. He issued an executive order immediately in January to direct the Department of Environmental Quality to examine the impact of RGGI and start the process of endingVirginia’s participation. He also called for the repeal of Virginia’s Clean Car Standards.
- In 2023 the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board voted to repeal the RGGI regulation.
- The Virginia Conservation Network maintains a Bill Trackerfor climate and energy policy in the state. The 2025 General Assembly Session saw the passage of multiple bills that will strengthen the 2020 Clean Economy Act, including the Community Access to Renewable Energy (CARE) package which will establish a Virtual Power Plant pilot program, a Clean energy Apprenticeship program, and other initiatives to support local, community solar.
- At the same time, Governor Glenn Youngkin has denounced climate policy and attempted massive rollbacks, including repealing Virginia’s clean car standards and pulling the state from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and the U.S. Climate Alliance.
CLIMATE ACTIONS WITH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
- Virginia participated in the EPA’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program, releasing its Priority Climate Action Plan(PCAP) in 2024. The state received a $100 million implementation grant for measures in the plan relating to the reduction of methane emissions.
COLLABORATIONS WITH OTHER STATES
In 2020, Virginia became the first southern state to join the Regional Gas Initiative (RGGI), a cap-and-invest program in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic that places a limit on electricity sector emissions.
- However, in 2023 Governor Glenn Youngkin removed Virginia from the RGGI, a move that was found “unlawful” by a Virginia circuit court. Youngkin intends to appeal the ruling.
- Virginia was a member of the U.S. Climate Alliance, a coalition of 24 states and Puerto Rico working to implement policies that advance the goals of the Paris Agreement, but withdrew in 2023 under Governor Glenn Youngkin.
