Virginia Energy Plan; climate change pressing challenge.

Virginia Energy Plan; Commonwealth Energy Policy.Adopts findings that climate change is an urgent and pressing challenge forVirginia, that swift decarbonization and a transition to clean energy arerequired to meet the urgency of the challenge, and that the Commonwealth willbenefit from being a leader in deploying a low-carbon energy economy. Themeasure states that the Commonwealth recognizes that the following objectiveswill advance the health, welfare, and safety of Virginians: (i) establishingsufficient supply and delivery infrastructure to enable widespread deploymentof distributed energy resources; (ii) maximizing energy efficiency programs inorder to produce electricity cost savings and to create jobs and revenue fromthe energy efficiency service sector; (iii) establishing greenhouse gasemissions reduction goals across Virginia's economy that reach net-zeroemissions by 2050; (iv) requiring that pathways to net-zero greenhouse gasemissions be determined; (v) enabling widespread integration of storagetechnologies into the grid and pairing such storage technologies with renewablegeneration; (vi) mitigating the negative impacts of climate change and theenergy transition on disadvantaged communities and prioritizing investment inthese communities; (vii) developing the carbon-free energy resources requiredto fully decarbonize the electric power supply of the Commonwealth includingdeployment of 30 percent renewables by 2030 and realizing 100 percent carbon-freeelectric power by 2040; and (viii) ensuring that decision-making is transparentand includes opportunities for full participation by the public. The measurealso states that it is the policy of the Commonwealth to (a) accelerate the useand deployment of renewable energy sources such that 30 percent of Virginia'selectricity will be from renewable energy sources by 2030 and 100 percent ofVirginia's electricity will be from carbon-free sources by 2040; (b) promoteresearch and development of carbon-free electric power generation technologies,including advanced nuclear and carbon capture and storage; (c) ensure theavailability of affordable natural gas where established and where it enablesgreenhouse gas reduction; (d) promote beneficial electrification oftransportation, buildings, industry, and agriculture; (e) establish greenhousegas emissions reduction standards across all sectors of Virginia's economy thattarget net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century; (f) enact mandatoryclean energy standards and overall strategies for reaching zero carbon in theelectric power sector by 2040; (g) incorporate requirements for technical,policy, and economic analyses and assessments that identify pathways to zerocarbon that maximize Virginia's economic development and create quality jobs;(h) minimize the negative impacts of climate change and the energy transitionon disadvantaged communities and prioritize investment in these areas; (i)adopt residential and commercial building codes that meet or exceed the currentInternational Building Code standards and encourage construction andretrofitting of buildings to achieve maximum energy savings; and (j) supportthe distributed generation of renewable electricity. The measure also requiresthat the Virginia Energy Plan identify actions consistent with the goals ofachieving a net-zero carbon economy by 2050 and include an inventory of allgreenhouse gas emissions for the four years preceding the issuance of the Plan.