Data centers accounted for about 11% of the Washington region's greenhouse gas emissions in 2023, according to new data from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG).

The boom is pushing the region further from its goal of cutting emissions 50% from 2005 levels by 2030, COG told its board at a meeting Wednesday, Sept. 9. The region is less than halfway to that target with four years left, FFXnow reported.

COG board members adopted a resolution reaffirming the 2030 target and a longer-term goal of an 80% reduction by 2050, while encouraging localities to take more aggressive climate action.

The findings hit close to home for Reston. The Dulles corridor sits at the center of Northern Virginia's data center growth, and Fairfax County holds between 3 million and 4 million square feet of data center space, according to Board of Supervisors Chair Jeff McKay.

Regional electricity demand up 40% since 2005

Total regional electricity consumption climbed from 61.2 million megawatt hours in 2005 to 85.95 million megawatt hours in 2024, a 40% increase, according to the COG data. Residential use grew just 5% over that span. Commercial consumption, driven largely by data centers, jumped 59%.

About 90% of the region's emissions come from building energy use and transportation.

"If we continue on this trajectory and status quo, we're not going to meet the goals," Clark Mercer, COG's executive director, said at the Sept. 9 meeting, according to FFXnow.

Maia Davis, a COG senior planner who presented the data, said clean power and clean vehicles are the top strategies for closing the gap, followed by cleaner and greener buildings. She noted the region has seen growth in solar power and electric vehicles but said the regional tree canopy, after reaching a 50% goal, appears to be declining again.

Fairfax County's position

A draft COG inventory shared with the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in December 2025 showed the county had cut emissions nearly 30% from 2005 levels, FFXnow reported in December. County emissions dipped after an uptick in 2023 tied to increased post-pandemic travel.

Locality-specific data from the new COG report was presented at the Sept. 9 meeting, but officials said it would be released publicly soon.

The county adopted stricter data center zoning rules in 2024, including limits on how close facilities can sit to residential neighborhoods. At the Northern Virginia Regional Elected Leaders Summit on Aug. 26, McKay said the state should set minimum environmental protections while letting localities impose tougher standards.

"We've just got to make sure we're putting them in the right places with the right rules," McKay said at the Aug. 26 summit.

Local pushback grows

Resident opposition is building closer to home. The Fairfax County Federation of Citizens Associations voted Aug. 27 to oppose the proposed Plaza 500 data center campus and Dominion Energy substation on Edsall Road in Lincolnia, FFXnow reported. The federation's resolution called on the General Assembly to move the data center sales tax exemption sunset from June 30, 2035, to Jan. 1, 2028.

The Fairfax County Planning Commission is scheduled to hold a hearing on the Dominion Energy substation at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 2. That hearing was delayed from Sept. 24 at Dominion's request.

Data centers could become a key issue in the 2027 local elections, when all 10 Fairfax County Board of Supervisors seats will be on the ballot.