Climate Change Planning and Action

Fairfax County is proactively working to address climate change and its various impacts. On this page you will find information on three separate county initiatives that take on climate change from all angles: mitigation, adaptation, and resilience.

In 2021, the Board of Supervisors accepted the county's first-ever Community-wide Energy and Climate Action Plan (CECAP). This plan outlines greenhouse gas reduction goals for our community for the coming decades. Carbon-Free Fairfax is the county initiative which turns the words of CECAP into action, implementing the strategies identified in the plan.

Complementing Carbon-Free Fairfax is Resilient Fairfax, an initiative which will encompass the development of a comprehensive Climate Adaptation and Resilience Plan for the county and the community as well as the implementation of strategies to reduce risk to county residents, businesses, and infrastructure. 

Carbon-Free Fairfax lockupCarbon-Free Fairfax is primarily a public education and outreach initiative designed to help realize a future for Fairfax County that is healthy, sustainable, and economically prosperous without local greenhouse gas emissions. This initiative turns the words of the Community-wide Energy and Climate Action Plan into action. Carbon-Free Fairfax draws inspiration from CECAP and provides opportunities for county residents, businesses, and other stakeholders to take meaningful action.

 

 

 

CECAP logo lockup The Community-wide Energy and Climate Action Plan, or CECAP, is a community-driven plan that seeks to involve everyone across the county to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. It also highlights the existing and needed county, state, and federal actions. The plan sets ambitious but achievable greenhouse gas reduction goals for our community, namely that we will reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by half by 2030, and achieve carbon-neutrality by 2050.

 

 

Resilient Fairfax simple lockupResilient Fairfax encompasses the development of a comprehensive Climate Adaptation and Resilience Plan for the county and the community, as well as the implementation of strategies to reduce risk to county residents, businesses, and infrastructure. Climate change is already having a significant impact on Fairfax County. Developing and implementing a plan will allow the county to avoid economic, social, and environmental risks associated with climate change.

 

Fairfax Virtual Assistant