Virginia has returned as a participant of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Virginia’s participation, along with its compliance requirements, will resume July 1, 2026.
Virginia’s allowance budget for the second half of 2026 will be 11.48 million allowances, and they will participate in the September 9 and December 2, 2026 auctions.
This will be in addition to allowance offerings from the other ten RGGI participating states in those auctions.
Virginia will also originate 1.148 million Cost Containment Reserve (CCR) allowances for the remainder of 2026.
Later this year, Virginia will undertake regulatory action to align the state’s program with the outcomes of the Third Program Review and the updated Model Rule by January 1, 2027.
RGGI is composed of individual CO2 budget trading programs in each state, based on each state’s independent legal authority.
A CO2 allowance represents a limited authorization to emit one short ton of CO2, as issued by a respective state. A regulated power plant must provide CO2 allowances equal to its emissions for each three-year control period. RGGI’s sixth control period began on January 1, 2024 and extends through December 31, 2026.
