Illinois’ Climate and Equitable Jobs Act

This 900-page energy and climate bill, passed in September 2021, covers a variety of subject areas, listed below:

On electricity:

• The bill raises the renewable portfolio standard to require 40 percent renewable energy by 2030 and 50 percent by 2040, with the goal of a zero-carbon electricity sector by 2045 — and beyond that, a net-zero-carbon state economy by 2050.
• Subsidies to renewable energy will roughly double, to around $580 million per year. An additional $317 million that the state’s utilities had previously collected will be spent on clean-energy projects rather than refunded to customers as scheduled.
• The Illinois Solar for All program, which provides rooftop solar power to low-income renters and homeowners (as well as public buildings and nonprofits serving environmental justice communities), will have its funding increased from $10 million to $50 million a year.
• The bill provides $700 million in subsides to three nuclear plants in the state over the next five years.
• All private coal- and oil-fired power plants must get to zero emissions (i.e., retire) by 2030. Municipally owned coal plants — Prairie State and Dallman Station — must reduce emissions 45 percent by 2035 (which will mean shutting down one of two boilers) and 100 percent by 2045.
• All private natural gas plants must reach zero emissions — either by retiring or by switching over to hydrogen — by 2045. Until then, their emissions in a given year can not exceed the average of the previous three years, i.e., can not rise. Importantly: fossil fuel plants will be shut down according to their proximity to low-income and marginalized communities, not necessarily according to greenhouse gases or economics.
• The bill directs the PUC to adopt a performance-based ratemaking approach, tying utility compensation to a series of performance metrics such as “reliability and resiliency, peak load reductions attributable to demand response programs, supplier diversity expansion, affordability, interconnection response time, and customer service performance.”

On transportation:

• The bill establishes the goal of getting a million electric vehicles on Illinois roads by 2030.
• The bill establishes a $4,000-per-vehicle rebate for EV customers.
• The state will rebate up to 80 percent of the cost of EV infrastructure projects that pay prevailing wages. Forty-five percent of those rebates will be channeled to projects in low-income and marginalized communities.

On a just transition:

• The bill provides $80 million annually to a Clean Jobs Workforce Network Hubs Program, which will create 13 hubs around the state to deliver workforce-development programs to low-income and underserved populations. Resources will be put toward outreach, recruitment, training, and placement.
• The Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and the Illinois Department of Employment Security will work together to develop a “displaced worker bill of rights,” with $40 million a year to go toward transition assistance for areas dependent on fossil fuel production or generation.

On green banks:

• The Clean Energy Jobs and Justice Fund will provide financing and low-interest lending to clean-energy projects in low-income and marginalized communities.
• The Illinois Finance Authority Climate Bank, more like a conventional green bank, will provide seed funding and develop public-private partnerships to draw more private capital to clean energy projects.