Giving Compass' Take:

• Mukta Patil reports that Chicago is the largest U.S. city to commit to 100% clean energy by 2035. 

• How can other cities learn from Chicago's efforts? What support and partnerships will the city need to engage to achieve its goal?

• Learn about the need for cities to commit to climate action. 

On April 10th, 2019 Chicago became the largest city in the United States to commit to 100 percent clean energy. Legislation passed unanimously today by the city council will enable the metropolis of 2.7 million to power all of its buildings on clean and renewable energy by 2035. The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), which is the country’s second-largest public transportation system, will completely electrify its fleet of over 1,850 buses by 2040.

This means that Chicago is now officially a part of the Ready for 100 club, joining 118 other cities across the country that have committed to generating 100 percent energy from clean, renewable sources, and six of which (Aspen, Burlington, Georgetown, Greensburg, Rock Port, and Kodiak Island) have reached their goals.

It will take several years to work out how exactly this will happen. Resolution R2019-157 calls for the development of a transition plan by December 2020, which will lay out a timeline and project milestones.

Municipal buildings take up 8 percent of the electricity used in Chicago—the equivalent of about 295,000 homes. Scaling up the commitment to all buildings in Chicago will contribute enormously to emissions reductions, since they currently account for approximately 70 percent of the city's emissions.

Over the past six years, solar energy capacity more than doubled in 45 of America’s 57 largest cities. In 2018, Illinois had the second-highest solar job growth of any US state—it now ranks 13th as far as total solar jobs nationally. And the Illinois Clean Energy Jobs Act aims to move the entire state to 100 percent clean energy by 2050.

Read the full article about Chicago's commitment to clean energy by Mukta Patil at Sierra.