Illinois must move faster to reach clean-energy goals. A national carbon fee will help.
The two-year anniversary of passage of the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA) has come and gone, yet Illinois remains woefully behind in its goal to have homes and businesses get 40% of our power from carbon-free sources like solar and wind by 2030.
In fact, we have reached only a quarter of that - just 10.5%, according to recent news reports - thanks to a slow start to implementing a law hailed in September 2021 as a monumental achievement in the fight against climate change.
While it's true that CEJA has had some success in expanding development of renewable energy sources, providing funding for electric vehicles and charging stations and starting clean energy workforce training programs, much of this success has come from other programs like Reimagining Energy and Vehicles in Illinois and the federal Inflation Reduction Act, which was enacted a year ago.
In the past year, thanks to state and federal incentives, Illinois added 3,773 clean energy jobs, excluding traditional transmission and distribution jobs that favor fossil fuels, bringing the total to 126,806 - a 3.1% increase, according to the 2023 U.S. Energy & Employment Report from the U.S. Energy Department.
These investments and the good jobs they generate are vital to successfully transitioning to a clean energy economy, but much more is needed.
Realizing Illinois' carbon-free energy goals will take bold policies and quicker uptake than we've seen so far.
Citizens Climate Lobby remains committed to advocating for a national carbon fee and dividend plan to drive energy innovation and give every American community access to abundant, affordable clean energy at a predictable price. And by including a carbon border adjustment, the U.S. can level the playing field for American-made products competing with imports that have not faced the additional cost of a carbon price in their country of origin.
The good news is that federal legislation that would enact a carbon fee was just reintroduced in Congress. Rep. Salud Carbajal, a California Democrat, reintroduced the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act of 2023 in the U.S. House of Representatives last week.
It's no surprise that Rep. Carbajal is leading the charge. He represents a state where the governor and attorney general have declared war on Big Oil by suing them for billions of dollars for hoodwinking the public for decades about the adverse effects fossil fuels have on our climate and health.
A carbon fee and cashback plan also has had support in Illinois, where we are working to lower our reliance on fossil fuels by investing hundreds of millions of dollars to convert coal plants into solar battery operations. An earlier version of the federal carbon fee and dividend bill was supported by five current Illinois congressional members: Reps. Danny Davis, Jesus (Chuy) Garcia, Robin Kelly, Jan Schakowsky and Mike Quigley. We should urge them to do so again.
This legislation represents big, bold, necessary action on climate change that more than 7,400 grass-roots advocates in Illinois and 200,000 across the nation are eager to see. Corporate polluters should no longer be allowed to use our air as a trash can, freely emitting carbon pollution and warming our world. Instead, polluters should pay - and under this legislation, they will.
As our representatives in Washington and Springfield look to the future, they should continue to quickly ramp up clean energy efforts, meeting the moment to reduce climate pollution while bringing good jobs and real-world benefits to the people of Illinois and beyond.
• Joe Tedino, a marketing communications consultant, is a volunteer with the Chicago chapter of Citizens' Climate Lobby.