lllinois’ climate is changing. Most of the state has warmed by about 1.5 degrees (F) in the last century. Floods are becoming more frequent, and ice cover on the Great Lakes is forming later or melting sooner.
While precipitation has increased by an average of 4% nationwide between 1901 and 2015, Illinois has seen as much as a 10% rise in precipitation in this period. Most of this moisture is experienced as increased rainfall in the winter and spring, bringing hazards such as rising water levels of lakes, severe weather and tornadoes and exacerbating ecological issues like algae blooms and invasive species migration. These challenges expose the weaknesses in ageing infrastructure and hold severe consequences for the agricultural sector, where waterlogging is expected to cause a 10-30% decline in corn and soy yields.
The Midwest's economic powerhouse, Illinois is the sixth-most energy consuming state in the country, with 31% of its end-use consumption coming from the industrial sector, but it is also a major electricity generator with the largest number of nuclear power plants in the nation. A key hub for crude oil and natural gas moving throughout the United States, Illinois also has substantial coal reserves and some crude oil resources.
In 2023, the majority of the state’s electricity (54%) came from nuclear power. From 2009-2023, the second largest provider of electricity was coal-fired power plants. However, coal only provided about 15% in 2023, as about 9,000 megawatts of coal have shut down since 2009, 2,700 megawatts in 2022 alone. Natural-gas fired generation reached its peak in 2023, accounting for 16% of electricity.
The rest of the state’s generation came from renewables (14%), wind leading with 12% of generation. The state is a leader in wind-powered electricity generating capacity, ranking fifth in the nation for utility-scale wind power generating capacity. About 1200 additional megawatts are scheduled to come online by 2026. Solar power provided 13% of the state’s renewable electricity in 2023, with the largest solar power facility in Illinois, Prairie Solar Farm, coming online in 2021. Biomass and hydropower together contributed 1% of renewable electricity. Illinois is also a leading producer of ethanol and biodiesel - the third-highest producer of both in the nation.
Illinois took ambitious steps in 2018 to decarbonize its fossil-fuel dependent economy by passing the Long-Term Renewable Resources Procurement Plan with goals of 25% renewable energy by 2025. This portfolio standard also invests in job creation and a plan for making solar energy affordable for all. In 2019, Governor J.B. Pritzker signed an executive order committing Illinois to the Paris Climate Agreement and entered the U.S. Climate Alliance.
A new plan called the Clean Energy Jobs Act was proposed in 2019, with the backing of Governor J.B. Pritzker, to establish a target of 100% renewable energy by 2050 and put it in league with 14 other states (including Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico). On 9/15/2021, with support from both sides of the aisle, the governor succeeded, signing a massive climate and energy plan (including supporting three of Illinois’ nuclear power plants and doubling the subsidies available for renewable energy companies to build wind and solar projects) updating the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard to get Illinois to 40% renewable energy by 2030, 50% by 2040, and 2050 for when 100% of the state’s power comes from “clean” sources that include nuclear plants Fossil fuels as power sources will be largely phased out of Illinois’ energy portfolio by 2045.
In 2023, the Illinois Department of Transportation released an updated plan, titled the Illinois Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Deployment Plan. The 2023 update sets a goal of 1 million electric vehicles in the state by 2030, and expands charging infrastructure.
The state’s Priority Climate Action Plan was released March 1, 2024, developed by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency with funding from the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant program. The plan includes a Greenhouse Gas inventory, priority GHG reduction measures, a low/income disadvantaged communities benefits analysis, review of authority to implement, intersection with other funding availability, and workforce planning analysis. Other state departments and cities in Illinois had already developed their own climate plans, including the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, the University of Illinois, and Chicago metropolitan region.
At the signing of the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act in March, 2024, Pritzker said, “We’ve seen the effects of climate change right here in Illinois repeatedly in the last two and a half years alone,” he said. “A polar vortex. Devastating floods. Microbursts that destroy buildings. Record lake levels. Extreme heat.”
In August 2024, Governor Pritzker signed a law making Illinois the fifth state to require climate change education in public schools. As Jen Walling, executive director of the Illinois Environmental Council, said “By equipping young people with knowledge about the climate crisis, we are combating misinformation and inspiring future generations to not only be informed about the climate emergency, but to take action to address it.”
