MAYOR LIGHTFOOT RELEASES THE CHICAGO BUILDING
DECARBONIZATION WORKING GROUP RECOMMENDATIONS REPORT
Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot released the Chicago Building Decarbonization Working Group (CBDWG) report, which recommends equitable solutions to address the nearly 70% of total citywide greenhouse gas emissions that come from buildings in Chicago. The report release comes as Mayor Lightfoot continues to make progress on the City of Chicago’ s Green Recovery Agenda, a plan to combat climate change by drastically reducing the City’s largest sources of emissions, reducing the city’s reliance on fossil fuels and driving green economic opportunities for residents.
The report was developed by the Mayor ’s Office in partnership with Elevate and Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), through the American Cities Climate Challenge. The team engaged in months of research to analyze best practices in decarbonization from 12 North American cities. The research was followed by a yearlong effort to engage stakeholders across the city via focus groups and in-depth interviews with leaders citywide.
The CBDWG divided into three sub-groups — Existing Buildings, New Construction, and Financial and Technical Assistance. The report assesses each subject area and identifies concrete policies and actions to:
Equitably advance decarbonization for all, particularly homeowners, community anchors, and local businesses in Chicago’s historically underserved communities.
Drastically reduce fossil fuel use and establish the highest efficiency standards for new construction. Improve building energy use and performance through energy retrofits, advancement of renewable energy, and the electrification of existing buildings.
Identify financial and technical support and resources to ensure the successful decarbonization of Chicago’ s building stock.
The report highlights 26 strategies, recommended by the working group, which include specific policy changes, programs, and studies to complement the City’ s interim goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 62% citywide by 2040.
The CBDWG recommendations will serve as a guide for future policy development by Mayor Lightfoot to advance decarbonization across all building typologies in the City of Chicago.
Concrete investments in the Green Recovery Agenda include $31 million already dedicated to retrofit residential buildings and community anchor institutions.
