Climate Goal Achievement
2023 NACo Achievement Award Winner
Cook County, Ill., IL
Best In Category
About the Program
Category: County Resiliency (Best in Category)
Year: 2023
In 2013 Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle convened an advisory panel to set climate goals for Cook County, which has approximately 175 buildings and 19,000,000 square feet. An initial goal was set for an 80% emissions reduction by 2050, and in 2020, Cook County released the Clean Energy Plan, which amended the initial goal to carbon neutral by 2050 with an intermediate goal of 45% emissions reduction in buildings by 2030 (from a 2010 baseline). The Clean Energy Plan outlined the path Cook County intended to take to meet its climate goals. The County reached the intermediate goal in 2021 by achieving a 45.1% reduction in greenhouse emissions.