Climate Jobs Illinois

10/13/2026

Northern Illinois families and businesses get their power through PJM, and PJM’s decisions are driving up bills while needed transmission projects sit in the queue.

Gov. Pritzker and a bipartisan group of governors just formed the PJM Governors’ Collaborative to push for more transparency, more accountability, and a grid that keeps up with growing demand without passing the costs on to ratepayers.

Climate Jobs Illinois believes the way through it is to build. That means new transmission, more clean generation, and keeping our nuclear fleet running, all built and maintained by Illinois’ skilled union workforce. Reliability, affordability, and good jobs aren’t competing goals. We can have all three.

Gov. JB Pritzker and a bipartisan group of governors formed the PJM Governors’ Collaborative, an effort aimed at giving states more influence over regional power-grid decisions affecting electricity costs and reliability.

09/29/2026

Illinois' clean energy future is being built by working people, and we'd love to have you with us. Sign up for updates at climatejobsillinois.org to hear about campaigns, ways to take action, and stories from the workers making it happen.

Visit climatejobsillinois.org.

09/24/2026

Our carbon-free healthy schools initiative does three things at once: it cuts emissions, makes school buildings healthier, and puts Illinois construction workers to work on energy efficiency upgrades. Kids get better classrooms. Workers get good jobs. Communities breathe easier.

09/22/2026

When Illinois committed to clean energy, labor made sure the jobs would be good ones. Under the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, utility-scale renewable energy projects must pay prevailing wages and use project labor agreements. That means family-supporting wages and skilled, trained crews from day one.

Clean energy and strong labor standards go hand in hand.

09/18/2026

Climate Jobs Illinois represents hundreds of thousands of Illinois union men and women, apprentices, and trainees. We believe Illinois doesn't have to choose between good jobs and a clean, better future, and that the workers who build our energy system should lead the way to a carbon-free one.

Want to learn more about our work? Visit climatejobsillinois.org.

09/16/2026

Big news for Illinois's clean energy future: the state just wrapped up its first battery storage procurement under the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act, locking in 600 megawatts of new utility-scale battery storage — enough to power roughly 500,000 homes.

That's on top of the 141 MW already online, and it's a real down payment on Illinois's goal of at least 3,000 MW by 2030. As Brett Sproul of Advanced Energy United put it, this is 'a huge step forward.'

The buildout wasn't even — strong results in the MISO territory (520 MW) but a shortfall in PJM due to interconnection hurdles — which is exactly why the work continues this fall, with stakeholder input sessions and a new integrated resource planning process starting in November.

More battery storage means a more reliable grid, more capacity for solar and wind, and more good-paying jobs building and maintaining this infrastructure right here in Illinois. Climate Jobs Illinois will keep pushing to make sure workers benefit every step of the way.

Read more:

Illinois is adding 600 MW of battery storage as the state works toward its renewable energy and grid reliability goals.

08/28/2026

As this Chicago Tribune column lays out, Gov. Pritzker's pause on new data center tax incentives isn't a plan, and Illinois can't leave it there.

Climate Jobs Illinois and the Illinois AFL-CIO have been clear from the start: this isn't about choosing between good jobs and responsible growth. It's about building the standards that guarantee both. Before Illinois hands out another dollar in data center tax breaks, we need prevailing wage and project labor agreements on the construction, real community benefit agreements for the neighborhoods living next to these facilities, and a credible plan for the power and water it takes to run them.

The legislature has a chance to get this right in the fall veto session. A freeze without a framework just kicks the hard questions down the road and hurts working families' and Illinois' economy alike.

There are costs with data centers, and there are benefits. There are potential windfalls and huge risks.

08/17/2026

Two years ago, Alex Coker was experiencing homelessness, with time spent in jail and prison along the way. Today, he's a first-year apprentice with Ironworkers Local 380, working construction on I-57 South and building a career in the trades.

Coker's turnaround started with Champaign County Drug Court and the nonprofit C-U at Home, which helped him find housing and build financial literacy skills. From there, our partner Hire360 Partners connected him to a union apprenticeship — opening a door to steady, good-paying union work.

What makes this story even better: Coker's success convinced Local 380 Ironworkers to reserve two apprenticeship spots every cycle for future C-U at Home participants. One person's hard work turned into a permanent pathway for others facing the same circumstances he did.

This is exactly the kind of workforce pipeline Illinois needs more of — one that pairs union apprenticeships with real support, so hard work translates into lasting careers and stronger communities. Read Alex's full story here:

URBANA, Ill. (WCIA) — There’s an old proverb that says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” And for Alex Coker in Champaign County, it held true, taking…

07/31/2026

Climate Jobs Illinois exists because we believe the transition to a modern energy economy should also be a transition to more good union jobs — not fewer.

From apprenticeships to prevailing wage to workplace safety, every standard we fight for is about making sure Illinois workers, not just corporations, benefit as our state builds its energy future.

07/29/2026

Ten Chicago workers just completed a 240-hour Solar Workforce Bootcamp — a NABTU-approved pre-apprenticeship paired with hands-on PV training — thanks to a $180,000 investment from Pivot Energy and a partnership with HIRE360. These graduates are now positioned to build careers in union construction and clean energy trades, with another cohort already planned for 2027.

This is exactly the kind of workforce pipeline Climate Jobs Illinois wants to see more of: real investment from developers, real training standards, and real pathways into good-paying union careers for Chicago workers as the clean energy economy grows. https://energiesmedia.com/pivot-energy-chicago-workers-for-solar-industry/