To get to zero by 2050, Illinois must cut climate pollution by
9.5 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent a year.

Emissions in Illinois

Million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2e) emissions

Note: Grey area indicates missing data due to processing delays.
Source: WRI, Mar 2021

This is how we're going to do it.


Illinois's climate pollution, by source
🏭 Other: 34%🔌 Power: 24%🚗 Transport: 26%🏠 Buildings: 15%

Source: WRI, Mar 2021

    Decarbonize Our Buildings

    🏭 Other: 34%🔌 Power: 24%🚗 Transport: 26%🏠 Buildings: 15%

    15% of Illinois's climate pollution comes from buildings.

    We burn fossil fuels to heat our air, water, and food.

    To cut this pollution...

    Let's electrify our heat!

    We'll replace...

    ...in all of Illinois's 5.2 million buildings.

    In fact, 20% of buildings in Illinois are already fossil fuel free!

    That means we only need to electrify the remaining 4.2 million dirty buildings in Illinois. That's around 150,000 per year.

    Percent of Buildings electrifiedA chart showing the share of Buildings that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.19.96% have been electrified, and the remaining 80.04% are fossil fuel based.Buildings ElectrifiedNot yetSource: Microsoft, Mar 2021; NREL, Dec 2021

    Electrifying all buildings cuts 15% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 34%🔌 Power: 24%🚗 Transport: 26%🏠 Buildings: 15%

    Decarbonize Our Transport

    🏭 Other: 34%🔌 Power: 24%🚗 Transport: 26%🏠 Buildings: 15%

    26% of Illinois's pollution comes from cars, trucks, trains, and planes.

    But mostly from cars.

    To cut this pollution,

    your next car must be electric.

    Or consider going car-free with public transit, bikes/e-bikes, car share, or other alternatives!

    There are 4.2 million vehicles in Illinois and 26,000 are already electric (0.6% of the total).

    We need to electrify (or replace) the remaining 4.1 million gas-powered vehicles. That's around 149,000 a year.

    Percent of Vehicles electrifiedA chart showing the share of Vehicles that have already been electrified and still based in fossil fuel.0.6% have been electrified, and the remaining 99.4% are fossil fuel based.Vehicles ElectrifiedNot yetSource: DOT, Feb 2021

    Electrifying all transportation cuts 26% of the pollution.

    🏭 Other: 34%🔌 Power: 24%🚗 Transport: 26%🏠 Buildings: 15%

    Decarbonize Our Power

    🏭 Other: 34%🔌 Power: 24%🚗 Transport: 26%🏠 Buildings: 15%

    24% of Illinois's pollution comes from burning coal, gas, and oil to make power.

    Dirty power plant

    To cut this pollution...

    Put solar panels on your roof!

    Then, we'll replace all fossil fuel power plants with solar and wind farms.

    We need to replace dirty power plants with clean ones (mostly wind and solar)

    ...and find good jobs for those workers.

    Current Fossil Fuel Power Plants in Illinois

    19 coal plants

    Name: Baldwin Energy Complex
County: Randolph
Megawatt Capacity: 1,894
Utility: Dynegy Midwest Generation Inc

    Baldwin Energy Complex
    Randolph County
    1,894 MW

    Name: Powerton
County: Tazewell
Megawatt Capacity: 1,786
Utility: Midwest Generations EME LLC

    Powerton
    Tazewell County
    1,786 MW

    Name: Prairie State Generating Station
County: St Clair
Megawatt Capacity: 1,766
Utility: Prairie State Generating Co LLC

    Prairie State Generating Station
    St Clair County
    1,766 MW

    Name: Kincaid Generating Station
County: Christian
Megawatt Capacity: 1,319
Utility: Dynegy Kincaid Generation

    Kincaid Generating Station
    Christian County
    1,319 MW

    ...and 15 more

    65 gas plants

    Name: Elwood Energy Facility
County: Will
Megawatt Capacity: 1,728
Utility: Elwood Energy LLC

    Elwood Energy Facility
    Will County
    1,728 MW

    Name: Joliet 29
County: Will
Megawatt Capacity: 1,320
Utility: Midwest Generations EME LLC

    Joliet 29
    Will County
    1,320 MW

    Name: Kendall Energy Facility
County: Kendall
Megawatt Capacity: 1,256
Utility: Dynegy Kendall Energy LLC

    Kendall Energy Facility
    Kendall County
    1,256 MW

    Name: Venice
County: Madison
Megawatt Capacity: 1,098
Utility: Union Electric Co - (MO)

    Venice
    Madison County
    1,098 MW

    ...and 61 more

    25 oil plants

    Name: Fisk
County: Cook
Megawatt Capacity: 663
Utility: Midwest Generations EME LLC

    Fisk
    Cook County
    663 MW

    Name: Pearl Station
County: Pike
Megawatt Capacity: 46
Utility: Prairie Power, Inc

    Pearl Station
    Pike County
    46 MW

    Name: Rantoul
County: Champaign
Megawatt Capacity: 30
Utility: Village of Rantoul - (IL)

    Rantoul
    Champaign County
    30 MW

    Name: Factory Gas Turbine
County: Sangamon
Megawatt Capacity: 27
Utility: City of Springfield - (IL)

    Factory Gas Turbine
    Sangamon County
    27 MW

    ...and 21 more
    Source: EPA, Jan 2021

    But wait!

    It's not enough to replace our power plants with wind and solar farms.

    To power our electric cars and buildings, we need two times the electricity we have today.

    In all, we'll need to build 12,000 Megawatts of wind power and 11,000 Megawatts of solar power.

    Since Illinois already has 2,000 Megawatts of wind and 165 Megawatts of solar, that's 11,000 Megawatts of wind power we need to build and 11,000 Megawatts of solar power. That's around 369 Megawatts of wind power and 392 Megawatts of solar power a year.

    Percent of needed targetGeneration builtA chart showing the share of Solar and Wind capacity that has already been installed and rest to be installed. We are 9.5% of the way to what we need to be carbon neutral by 2050.MWs of targetGeneration Built

    Source: EIA, Apr 2022

    Decarbonizing all dirty power cuts 24% of the pollution.

    And gives us zero-emissions power we need to eliminate pollution from buildings and cars!

    🏭 Other: 34%🔌 Power: 24%🚗 Transport: 26%🏠 Buildings: 15%

    Other Emissions

    🏭 Other: 34%🔌 Power: 24%🚗 Transport: 26%🏠 Buildings: 15%

    The last 34% of Illinois's climate pollution comes from other sources...

    This includes farming, landfills, industry, and leaks from gas pipelines.

    There's no one solution to solve these problems, but there are lots of great ideas:

    • No-till farming to keep CO2 in the soil
    • Capturing methane leaks from landfills
    • Capturing CO2 to make emissions-free concrete
    • Burning green hydrogen to make emissions-free steel
    • Plugging methane leaks from gas pipelines

Ready to do your part?

Learn how to electrify your own machines and pass local policy to electrify the rest

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