From the Climate Cabinet
Every Republican Legislative Official Receives Failing Grade in Climate Cabinet’s 2023 Virginia Scorecard
Blair St. Ledger-Olson: “Climate Cabinet’s 2023 Scorecard proves climate is now firmly and unnecessarily entrenched in the partisan culture wars – and all at the expense of job creation and lower pollution across the Commonwealth”
CLICK HERE: View the 2023 Climate Cabinet Scorecard: Virginia
Climate Cabinet Action (CCA), a national organization helping local leaders run, win, and legislate on climate change, today released its “2023 Climate Cabinet Scorecard: Virginia”, the third annual report highlighting key climate and environmental justice votes taken by state legislators at the Virginia General Assembly during this year’s legislative session.
Like its 2022 predecessor, the 2023 report showed similar partisan divides, revealing which state elected officials advocated to fight climate change and create clean energy jobs in the Commonwealth. According to these findings, climate champions were solely from the Democratic Party while anti-climate officials all came from the Republican Party. Climate Cabinet expects this trend to continue even as a large majority of Virginians back pro-climate policies.
“If the session alone wasn’t an indicator, Climate Cabinet’s 2023 Scorecard proves climate is now firmly and unnecessarily entrenched in the partisan culture wars – and all at the expense of job creation and lower pollution across the Commonwealth,” said Blair St. Ledger-Olson, Legislative Director for Climate Cabinet. “Had it not been for the Virginia Senate’s pro-climate majority, the state’s standing as being the climate leaders of the South would have been erased. Every Republican official received at least an ‘F’ grade in this report, proving that the only way to protect policies like RGGI and clean cars is to have pro-climate majorities in the statehouse who can reject their anti-jobs, special interest-backed agenda.”
The rankings followed a contentious 2023 legislative session that saw the House of Delegates – an anti-climate majority body – and Governor Glenn Youngkin attempt to implement an agenda that would have dismantled the Commonwealth’s status as being the climate leader of the South. This included attempts to repeal the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA) and the Advanced Clean Car Standards, and remove the state from participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). Thanks to the pro-climate majority body of the Virginia Senate, these efforts failed.
Partial list of the Virginia House of Delegates scorecard. Click here for the full 2023 Climate Cabinet Scorecard: Virginia
The full House of Delegates breakdown is the following:
- 48 Democratic legislators received an A+ score (meaning a score of 100).
- 52 Republican legislators received an F- grade (meaning a score of 0).
In 2020 and 2021, under a pro-climate government trifecta, the Virginia legislature passed a suite of ambitious climate legislation that made it a leader in the South – and positioned it at the center of the growing clean energy economy. This included the VCEA, adopting Clean Cars Standards, joining RGGI, and creating an Office of Environmental Justice.
Legislators can improve their score in the next annual scorecard by voting for pro-climate policies and against environmental rollbacks in the upcoming legislative session. Click here to view the “2023 Climate Cabinet Scorecard: Virginia”.
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About Climate Cabinet Action: Down-ballot elections – including state legislative and municipal elections – are too often under-funded and ignored by the average voter. Enter: Climate Cabinet Action, a national organization helping local leaders run, win, and legislate on climate change. Climate Cabinet is a national organization that targets state and local elections that would provide the greatest “return on investment” in the fight against climate change and helps those candidates win at the ballot box. From critical funding to field or communications services, Climate Cabinet provides pro-climate candidates the tools they need to succeed in elections. Learn more by visiting www.climateslate.com.
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