Arlington Initiative to Rethink Energy (AIRE)

Carbon Roadmap Strategies

Our Climate-Energy Strategic Planning, Implementation and Progress.

About AIRE

The Arlington Initiative to Rethink Energy (AIRE), a division of Arlington County’s Office of Sustainability and Environmental Management (OSEM), operates as the County’s core agency for climate mitigation, adaptation/resilience programs, and community-facing energy programs. The AIRE program has been a catalyst for climate action since 2008 with multifaceted programs designed to:

Reduce greenhouse gas emissions from County government operations,
Encourage, assist, and recognize businesses that join the County in reducing emissions from their activities,
Inform and encourage residents to reduce their own emissions,
Engage other localities and regional organizations in a broader effort, and
Execute its Community Energy Plan (CEP), with a goal of setting mid- and long-term targets for emissions reductions in the County as a whole.

Through the AIRE program, Arlington is on the way to achieving its 2050 greenhouse gas emissions reduction target for carbon neutrality. AIRE deploys an all-of-government approach and works with a wide range of external partners to achieve common climate and energy goals.

Community Energy Plan

Arlington’s Community Energy Plan (CEP) is a long-term vision for transforming how we generate, use, distribute, and store energy in the County. It is a climate strategy that highlights plans for resiliency, adaptation, and mitigation, and helps facilitate planning across all county departments. In 2019, the Arlington County Board adopted a sweeping update to the Community Energy Plan that sets Arlington on a path to becoming a carbon-neutral community by 2050. Interim milestones include:

100% of Arlington’s electricity will be from renewable sources by 2035
County Government operations to achieve 100% renewable energy by 2025 (accomplished in 2023)

Read the Community Energy Plan.

Carbon Roadmap

View the Years 3-5 Carbon Roadmap and our climate-energy strategies to implement the CEP.

Accelerate

Accelerate is an annual report that features Arlington’s completed core work pertaining to energy, climate, and the environment. Due to the variety of on-going and completed projects, programs and policies, each report will contain fresh new stories to maintain transparency, highlight Arlington’s key successes and provide education on climate and energy related activities.

Read the latest Accelerate Report.

GHG Inventory

To track its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction progress, Arlington County developed community-wide GHG inventories for calendar years 2007, 2012, 2016, and, most recently, 2023. A GHG inventory provides a snapshot of annual emissions generated by activities within a particular area, such as Arlington County. The County’s community-wide GHG emissions inventories track progress toward meeting GHG reduction goals, identify the largest sources of emissions, and serve as the basis for directing and prioritizing climate actions. View the 2023 GHG Inventory here.

Click on each tile below to learn more about our programmatic efforts.