Illinois

Back to map

To get to zero by 2050, Illinois must cut climate pollution by 9.5 million metric tons of C02 equivalent a year.

Emissions in Illinois

Million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2e) emissions

We can do it. Here's how.

CO2 Equivalent Emissions in Illinois by Source
🏭 Other: 34%🔌 Power: 24%🚗 Transport: 26%🏠 Buildings: 15%

    🏠 Buildings

    15% of emissions in Illinois comes from buildings.

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

    Mostly from different types of heating.

    Gas furnace, gas water heater, gas stove

    80% of the pollution of your typical home comes from heating your space, water, and food.

    To stop this pollution, we need to replace our furnaces with electric heat pumps, electrify our water heaters, and cook with induction and electricity instead of gas.

    Electric heat pump, electric water heater, induction stove

    There are 5.2 million buildings in Illinois and 20% of building systems are already electrified.

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

    Percent of Building Systems electrifiedA chart showing the share of Building Systems 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.Building Systems ElectrifiedNot yet

    That will solve 15% of the problem.

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

    🚗 Getting Around

    26% of emissions in Illinois comes from cars, trucks, and planes.

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

    Mostly from our cars.

    To cut this pollution, if you have a car, your next one needs to be an electric vehicle (EV).

    Or try going car-free with public transit, bikes/e-bikes, or walking if it works for you.

    Gas emitting car being converted to electric car

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

    We need to electrify the remaining 4.1 million 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 yet

    That will solve another 26% of the problem.

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

    🔌 Power Generation

    24% of emissions in Illinois comes from making power.

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

    Specifically from coal, gas, and oil plants.

    To cut this pollution, we need to replace all dirty power plants with clean ones (mostly wind and solar).

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

    In Illinois we need to close and replace:

    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

    Name: Will County County: Will Megawatt Capacity: 1,269 Utility: Midwest Generations EME LLC

    Will County
    Will County
    1,269 MW

    Name: Newton County: Jasper Megawatt Capacity: 1,235 Utility: Illinois Power Generating Co

    Newton
    Jasper County
    1,235 MW

    Name: Joppa Steam County: Massac Megawatt Capacity: 1,100 Utility: Electric Energy Inc

    Joppa Steam
    Massac County
    1,100 MW

    Name: Coffeen County: Montgomery Megawatt Capacity: 1,005 Utility: Illinois Power Generating Co

    Coffeen
    Montgomery County
    1,005 MW

    Name: Waukegan County: Lake Megawatt Capacity: 915 Utility: Midwest Generations EME LLC

    Waukegan
    Lake County
    915 MW

    Name: E D Edwards County: Peoria Megawatt Capacity: 780 Utility: Illinois Power Resources Generating LLC

    E D Edwards
    Peoria County
    780 MW

    ...and 9 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

    Name: Aurora County: DuPage Megawatt Capacity: 1,086 Utility: Aurora Generation LLC

    Aurora
    DuPage County
    1,086 MW

    Name: Zion Energy Center County: Lake Megawatt Capacity: 995 Utility: Zion Energy LLC

    Zion Energy Center
    Lake County
    995 MW

    Name: LSP University Park, LLC County: Will Megawatt Capacity: 726 Utility: LSP University Park LLC

    LSP University Park, LLC
    Will County
    726 MW

    Name: Holland Energy Facility County: Shelby Megawatt Capacity: 702 Utility: NAES Corporation - (WA)

    Holland Energy Facility
    Shelby County
    702 MW

    Name: Lincoln Generating Facility County: Will Megawatt Capacity: 692 Utility: Lincoln Generating Facility LLC

    Lincoln Generating Facility
    Will County
    692 MW

    Name: Lee County Generating Station, LLC County: Lee Megawatt Capacity: 692 Utility: Lee County Generating Station

    Lee County Generating Station, LLC
    Lee County
    692 MW

    ...and 55 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

    Name: Sullivan (IL) County: Moultrie Megawatt Capacity: 25 Utility: City of Sullivan - (IL)

    Sullivan (IL)
    Moultrie County
    25 MW

    Name: Marshall (IL) County: Clark Megawatt Capacity: 20 Utility: City of Marshall - (IL)

    Marshall (IL)
    Clark County
    20 MW

    Name: Breese County: Clinton Megawatt Capacity: 19 Utility: City of Breese - (IL)

    Breese
    Clinton County
    19 MW

    Name: Highland County: Madison Megawatt Capacity: 18 Utility: City of Highland

    Highland
    Madison County
    18 MW

    Name: Reynolds County: Sangamon Megawatt Capacity: 18 Utility: City of Springfield - (IL)

    Reynolds
    Sangamon County
    18 MW

    Name: Carmi County: White Megawatt Capacity: 17 Utility: City of Carmi - (IL)

    Carmi
    White County
    17 MW

    ...and 15 more

    See a map of dirty power plants in the US

    ...and help those workers find good jobs.

    But wait! Remember how we electrified all cars and buildings?

    Our machines don't pollute now, because they run on electricity!

    But that means we need to make more power for those new electric machines - twice as much power as we make now!

    And all of it needs to be clean power!

    So to cut the climate pollution from our power, cars, and buildings we need to INSTALL 12,000 MWs of wind and 11,000 MWs of solar.

    Since Illinois already has 165 megawatts of solar power generation and 2,000 megawatts of wind power generation, that's 369 Megawatts of wind capacity AND 392 Megawatts of solar capacity a year we need to build.

    Percent to Needed ElectrificationA 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.Solar & Wind MWs InstalledRemaining to Install

    That will solve another 24% of the problem.

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

    🏭 Other Emissions

    The last 34% of emissions in Illinois comes other sources

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

    This includes industry, landfills, and farming.

    There's no one solution to solve these problems, but there are a lot of great ideas!

    These include:

    • Regenerative agriculture to sequester carbon in soil
    • Composting to reduce landfill methane emissions
    • New techniques for manufacturing CO2 emitting materials, like concrete
✅

Ready to do your part?

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

Take Action