Illinois Green Policy Update: November 2025

Ryan Wilmington • November 13, 2025

Welcome to the November edition of the Illinois Green Policy Update. We're incredibly excited to share some important updates about Illinois' recent climate policy achievement and more!


Illinois Just Passed the Clean and Reliable Grid Act: Here’s what the Building Industry Needs to Know 

A few weeks ago, Illinois legislators took major action to address rising energy costs and add clean energy to the grid through the Clean and Reliable Grid Act (CRGA). Over the last year this issue rose in prominence as residents across the state have seen their energy bills rise due to  rising capacity costs and increased  demand from data centers. 

 

The 1,000+ page bill focuses on addressing these challenges in a number of ways, focusing on clean energy generation and grid capacity solutions, while also creating new opportunities for green buildings across the state. We put together a summary of these key components!

 

Read more about the Clean and Reliable Grid Act here!

What does Chicago’s Latest Budget Proposal Mean for Green Buildings? 

Recently, Mayor Brandon Johnson released his 2026 Budget Proposal for the City of Chicago. Here are some key elements that industry professionals should be aware of: 

 

  • The Department of Environment would receive a major increase in budget and responsibility. The proposal returns the power to the Department of Environment by transitioning existing inspection, enforcement, and planning roles from other departments to the Department of Environment and allocates over $52 million to carry out these responsibilities.  
  • The Department of Planning and Development is set to lose a significant amount of funding due to the expiration of federal grant funding.  
  • The Department of Buildings would receive a minor budget cut and prioritize updating their permitting and inspection system. 

 

The Mayor, City Council, and key stakeholders will be negotiating the budget through the rest of the year. We’ll be tracking any changes impacting buildings and decarbonization through this process. Find the current proposal here 



In Other Sustainability News


Illinois Electricity 101: The Grid, Solar, and What Comes Next 

Read more – Vote Solar 

 Inside the push to turn vacant city lots into affordable homes in Chicago 

Read more – CBS News 

 

As the Data Center Boom Ramps Up in the Rural Midwest, What Should Communities Expect? 

Read more – Inside Climate News 

 

Boston Is Piloting Window Heat Pumps in Affordable Housing 

Read more – Next City 

 

Simpler Solar Regulations would Save Americans $1.2 Trillion 

Read more – Heatmap 

 

16 Northern Illinois Communities Take Steps to Become EV Ready 

Read more – Metropolitan Mayor’s Caucus 

 

Court Upholds Furnace Efficiency Standards Set to Cut Household Bills 

Read more – Appliance Standards Awareness Project 

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Scaling High Performance: Our 2026-2030 Strategic Plan is Here

By Matt Watson • February 12, 2026
Strategies for Leveraging Net Zero Practices of Statewide Impact

Illinois Green's Impact Over the Last 5 Years

By Ryan Wilmington • January 23, 2026
Five years ago, Illinois Green Alliance launched a new strategic plan with a bold north star to guide our work: to make net zero buildings feasible, affordable, and so commonplace that every building in Illinois was net zero by 2050. Mainstreaming the technology and building methods, whether new or existing, is no easy feat. But we realized no one was better positioned to make it happen than green building professionals.Our focus over the last five years have been about laying the foundation necessary to meet our long-term vision and I’m excited to share the progress we’ve made. These past five years have been guided by three pillars: ● Educating industry professionals to ensure they have the expertise to use net zero building methods in their work and can help us raise awareness about their value with building owners and policy makers. ● Removing barriers by providing information about the technical, financial, social and policy roadblocks to net zero adoption and passing new laws that help to overcome these barriers. ● Demonstrating it can work everywhere by collaborating with building types in historically underinvested communities that are considered difficult to implement net zero methods. That focus has paid off, allowing us to meet many of the goals we set for our work across all of our strategies. For example:

The New Momentum for Green Building Policy

By Ryan Wilmington • January 16, 2026
At the start of 2025, I told our members that we can build a movement of green building advocates that can continue the progress made in Illinois for high-performance building, regardless of what happens in Washington D.C. Over the last year, you’ve proven me right. While elsewhere green building and clean energy goals have been put on pause, Illinois has continued the fight and won three huge victories that usher in historic investment in clean energy and green buildings and raise the bar for building performance, completely changing the landscape for what is possible in this industry. 
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