An Uphill Battle for the Community Energy Action Plan
In November of 2023, the City of Falls Church adopted a Community Energy Action Plan (CEAP) setting goals for reducing the release of greenhouse gas emissions that cause a warming planet and describing strategies and supporting actions needed to accomplish the goals.
You may be wondering, “How goes the implementation of this critical plan?” The short answer is “underfunded, understaffed, and behind schedule.”
One key mission of the Falls Church Climate Action Network (FCCAN) is to monitor progress in implementing the CEAP and support implementation efforts where possible. Drawing on the City’s annual implementation status reports, we have published two assessments of progress to date:
In September 2025, we reported:
“Although the City has taken some constructive actions under the plans, these actions fall short of what is needed to meet the adopted goals.”
In July of 2024, we reported:
“Although an impressive range of important actions to implement the City energy plans is underway, some important actions are behind schedule or not yet addressed.”
The City released its 2026 Status Report for CEAP implementation in May of this year. This year’s Status Report is improved by the addition of information on progress toward specific outcomes (e.g., install more rooftop solar, purchase more electric vehicles) in addition to tracking more detailed program actions called for in the CEAP.
Here are some key takeaways:
Key strategies outlined in the CEAP are not on track to meet 2030 targets.
Although some major program investments are now coming online (e.g., the new state-funded home energy audit program), many other key program actions are not being implemented or funded.
City staff assigned to implementing the CEAP are working hard and making progress, but more staff and funding are needed along with a clearer commitment to full CEAP implementation from political leaders and senior managers.
Here is FCCAN’s take on progress toward key energy and climate goals as well as the program actions needed to accomplish the goals.
PROGRESS TOWARD MAJOR GOALS
Drawing on data in the City 2026 Status Report, FCCAN finds that, despite some incremental progress, the City is not on track to meet 2030 goals. Our assessment of progress toward key goals of the CEAP mostly shows marginal changes insufficient to meet short term goals.
Reduce Citywide Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions: The good news is that a new report from the Washington Metropolitan Council of Governments found that GHG emissions that cause climate change were down 18 percent in 2023 vs. 2005 levels. The bad news is that our goal was a 20 percent reduction by 2020. We will need to do much more to meet the 2030 target of a 50 percent GHG reduction (see this FCCAN blog post for more information).
Expand Residential and Commercial Solar: Although the number of residential solar power projects is on track to meet the City’s 2030 goal, the power produced by the projects is likely to be well below targets.
The goal of adding solar power to an additional 5 percent of homes by 2030 is within reach. Since 2022, about 2.8 percent of homes added solar power. But the pathway laid out in the CEAP hoped that about 6750 kilowatts (kW) would be added to residential and commercial roofs during 2023-2030, or about 840 kW per year. In the first three years, only about 900 kW were added in total, almost half of that at Meridian High School, and almost all the rest on residential roofs.
Recent solar projects benefited from federal tax credits that are phasing out, so the rate of new rooftop solar may slow. The CEAP proposed amending the City code to make the real estate tax exemption more attractive, and the City should assess the benefits of such a change. The City should also advertise residents’ options for leasing solar panels, which can save costs. And, starting in January 2027, Virginia residents will be able to purchase small “balcony solar” units to provide small amounts of solar power, and the City should promote this option.
Shift to Electric Vehicles: The CEAP goal for 2030 is for 50 percent of passenger vehicles purchased that year to be electric vehicles (EVs) with a goal of 100 percent by 2035. The annual percentage of EV additions in the City rose from 6.24% in 2024 to 13.81% in 2025, an increase of just over 7.5 percent annually. If this annual increase in EV purchases could be sustained, the community would likely meet the 2030 goal but would need to ramp up EV purchases by about 10 percent each year to meet the 2035 goal.
Again, the repeal of federal tax credits for EVs is likely to decelerate EV purchases in 2026. The CEAP calls for development of a plan for expanding public charging stations around the City, but the 2026 Status Report indicates no work is now planned in this area. The City should make a public charging plan a priority.
Reduce Vehicle Miles Travelled: Unfortunately, regional vehicle miles travelled (VMT) are increasing rather than decreasing. The City has adopted a 2030 goal of reducing VMT in the City by 20% below the 2005 levels. After a small decrease in 2020, VMT was about the same as in 2018 (i.e., 120 million miles) and well above the 2005 level of just under 100 million miles. Reducing VMT is a key contributor to meeting the greenhouse gas emissions reductions called for in the CEAP (i.e., about as important as more efficient buildings and more EVs, and more important than rooftop solar).
The CEAP points out some good news in that about half of all vehicle trips in the City are under 3 miles, making alternative transportation modes for these short trips a possibility. Bikes, including e-bikes, and low speed electric vehicles (e.g., golf carts, electric cargo bikes) can make a dent in the VMT and start turning the VMT trendline downward.
The City updated the Bike Master Plan in 2025 and is implementing it. Another key action to help reduce VMT identified in the CEAP is to promote the use of low-speed electric vehicles. This was identified as a “short term” or 2025 action but is now mentioned as a 2027 action.
Improve Efficiency and Electrify Buildings: The good news here is that electricity use in the City declined by over 3 percent from 2023 to 2024. That rate of decline might meet the CEAP goals of a 13 percent reduction by 2030.
The bad news is that the City has no data on changing levels of gas use in buildings so it is impossible to know whether the goal of a 13 percent reduction in building energy use (i.e., from use of both electricity and gas) is within reach. Given this data problem, the CEAP calls for several annual targets:
Installation of 200 to 350 air-source heat pumps (no new gas furnaces);
Electrification of 150 to 200 water heaters (no new gas water heaters); and
60 homes completing whole-home efficiency improvements.
The City has no method for accurately tracking those targets, but we do see replacement gas furnaces and gas water heaters being wheeled into homes around town. So we suspect these targets are not being met. The limited data the City provides on progress toward these targets is discouraging (i.e., 3 heat pumps replacing gas furnaces and 1 conversion of a water heater to electric).
On the brighter side, there is reason to hope that the new City home energy audit program will help both reduce electricity use and encourage a shift from gas to electric. But, the program will address only about 90 homes and is only funded for one year. The audits should highlight the importance of switching from gas to electric and encourage contractors to follow-through on such switching (e.g., replace a gas furnace with a heat pump rather than just a more efficient gas furnace).
PROGESS TOWARD IMPLEMENTING PROGRAM ACTIONS
As in prior assessments of CEAP implementation progress, FCCAN has evaluated each program action and sub-action called for in the CEAP (see table here).
This 2026 table lists the six major strategies and the program actions needed for implementation during the short term (2025) and the medium term (2026 – 2028). For each action, the table indicates:
whether the City 2026 Status Report addresses the action (yes/no)
whether the sub-actions were “on track” (green);
whether the sub-actions were “off track but some progress” (yellow); or
whether the sub-actions were “off track” (progress not reported).
Because the 2026 report includes actions in the “medium term” as well as near term, no comparison between the 2025 report and 2026 report is offered.
Some takeaways from this assessment include:
of the 47 “short term” program sub-actions the City Status Report addressed about half;
only about 26 percent of actions are “on track;”
another 23 percent of sub-actions are off track but underway in some form;
over 50 percent of sub-actions (i.e., 23 sub-actions) were “off track”; and
15 sub-actions considered “medium term” (i.e., to be implemented in the 2026-2028 period) are identified, most are not yet initiated, and the 2026 Status Report indicates that many are not expected to be initiated in 2026 or 2027.