Illinois Green Policy Update: May 2025
Hundreds of building professionals and environmental advocates took action to support green buildings and the energy transition last month and we're excited to share these efforts with you!
Getting our Members Involved in Policy: Highlights from the Last Month
Illinois Green has been busy working to advance green building policy by engaging our members and policymakers. Here are three ways we did that last month...
First, our Auxiliary Board Policy Committee held an event to help educate industry professionals on the impact they can make in advancing green building policy locally. At Your Voice Matters: Green Building Policy 101, panelists shared how policymakers, local advocates, and industry professionals collaborated to pass two first-in-Illinois policies in Evanston – Stretch Energy Codes and Building Performance Standards.
Here’s what these leaders had to say about these clean building policy victories:
“Since we first started on our climate action journey almost two decades ago, we have made really good progress. Depending on how you count, [and] the number can vary a little bit, but our carbon footprint is down almost 40% from our 2005 baseline, so yay for us. We're on the right track. However, we have made no progress at all in reducing emissions from our existing building stock.”
- Jonathan Nieuwsma, Council Member, City of Evanston
Sponsor of the Stretch Code and Healthy Buildings Ordinances
“So, how do we [pass stretch codes and the Healthy Buildings Ordinance]? Social infrastructure for climate action. Social infrastructure is way that we are organized as activists, as community members, as advocates. This is something that can be designed, it's something that can be built, and it is something that has to be maintained and here in Evanston we have really robust social infrastructure for climate action. …and [local leaders, place-based organizations, environmental groups and industry leaders] were able to band together under the common goal of passing the healthy buildings ordinance”
- Jack Jordan, Executive Director, Climate Action Evanston
“I was frustrated admittedly by the natural gas lobby lines that some of the larger organizations in Evanston were pushing so we offered to tour members of the council through our projects to show that [high-performance, all-electric] technology was thriving within the community… part of it was just inviting folks to come out and to see that this technology was implemented successfully and that our lease-ups were going really strong”
- Christopher S. Dillion, President, Campbell Coyle
“The other important thing is to pull in experts like Chris… to help guide folks with the planning because that's the type of expertise that people who are actually managing these buildings who have done this to be able to bring others along who might just feel overwhelmed and feel like they can't afford it…this is not a total cost situation, it's an incremental cost.”
- Paula Scholl, Evanston Environmental Board member
Our Policy Associate, Ryan Wilmington, was also recently at the state Capitol in Springfield to tell lawmakers how Illinois Green members are actively leading on the clean energy transition and how current proposals for clean buildings, energy efficiency, and grid resilience can catalyze this movement.
State legislators are in the midst of negotiating a major energy package that will impact battery storage, transmission permitting, grid planning and modeling, geothermal programs, utility data access, and more.
Read more about the policy proposal.
With this year's legislative session ending on May 31, there's just a few short days left to ensure legislation passes that will help advance clean energy and energy efficiency in Illinois! The Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition has an action alert for those that would like to show their support. Consider telling lawmakers why you, as an industry leader, want them to take action for a clean, reliable, and affordable grid.

Finally, we explored an opportunity to “raise the floor” for energy efficiency across the state.
Lauren Reeg and Erin Sherman from the Rocky Mountain Institute discussed why building codes are a crucial component of sustainability in the building industry, provided an overview of the ongoing update processes for the Illinois Base Energy Code and Stretch Energy Codes, and shared ways that building industry professionals can support changes that strengthen efficiency standards.
One way building industry leaders can do so is by adding their name to this sign-on letter to show policymakers that they support a strong, efficient code for Illinois. Show your support here.
Learn other ways to support strong energy codes by watching the recording here!
Take Action to Support Federal Energy Programs
Building industry support is needed to protect ENERGY STAR and Federal clean energy tax credits!
Clean energy projects and clean energy jobs in Illinois are driven by state incentives in the Clean and Equitable Jobs Act, but also by federal programs. A budget proposal currently being debated in Congress threatens to scale back and even eliminate these programs.
The proposal threatens to:
- Terminate the EPA's ENERGY STAR Program including Portfolio Manager.
- Rapidly eliminate Energy Efficient Home Improvement, Residential Clean Energy, and new Energy Efficient tax credits.
- Phase out geothermal, advanced clean energy manufacturing, and other energy tax credits.
You can help protect these vital initiatives by signing on to our letter telling our representatives in Illinois that they have support from building industry professionals. Sign the letter and share it with friends, peers, and colleagues.
In Other Sustainability News
Affordable housing advocates on Chicago’s ‘Green Social Housing’ Plan
Listen –
WBEZ 
Illinois lawmakers can cut red tape and make going solar more affordable
Read more –
Chicago Tribune
Largest solar farm east of the Mississippi provides more than just power
Read more – Canary Media
Lee Zeldin’s Claim that EPA Can Scrap ENERGY STAR Disregards the Law
Read more - Politico
Where are all the granny flats Chicago was promised 4 years ago?
Read more –
Crain's Chicago Business

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