Since its inception in 2005, RGGI has helped reduce carbon emissions in participating states by almost 60%. It has given hundreds of millions of dollars back to citizens who are the biggest stakeholders of climate change. Using the money from these billion dollar industries and putting them back into low-income areas will benefit Virginia greatly, especially areas that are prone to flooding. The future of Virginia needs to be clean; showing the rest of the world that the places most affected by climate change are not doing much about it at all, will set a precedent that other places will follow, until we are swallowed up whole.