Midwest Carbon League

Chicago and St. Louis Metro Areas

Ongoing Task Force Projects

25Q1 Critical Infrastructure & Work Force

Chicago Clean Energy Workforce Week

February 2025-February 2026

12-month goal: Creating a responsive workforce ecosystem in Chicagoland centered around people, partnerships, and education/training to deliver measurable impact via a growing job pipeline. Including CEJA partners, this includes a database of jobs and workforce partners to make it easier to access resources at every level of the pipeline. This work will culiminate in the Chicago Clean Energy Workforce Week in 2026Q2 to bring employers, workforce trainers, and future employees together for matching/development.

Current 90-day Sprint: Finalize and construct the workforce database and launch the workforce week call for proposals.

24Q4 Mobility & Clean Transportation

Clean Bus for All of Us

December 2024-December 2025

12-month goal: Partnering with the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) and ComEd, the Carbon League has identified three areas in South and West Chicago in need of improved bus access and electrification support. Using ESRI mapping tools, these areas were selected based on indicators such as limited existing bus access, lower income levels, poor health outcomes, employment accessibility, and low-income housing accessibility gathered from industry, city, state, county, and federal data. One corridor will be selected to launch the first phase of development with the support and leadership of area stakeholders. This work is part of a broader effort to enhance short-term ridership experience, encourage mid-term mode-shifting, and support long-term beneficial electrification in Chicago.

Current 90-day Sprint: Build support over the ranked target corridors with local alders, businesses, and community groups.

24Q3 Grid Modernization

Transparent Community Climate Dashboard

October 2024-July 2025

12-month goal: The "Transparent Community Climate Dashboard” seeks to create an interactive, visualized dashboard that tracks a community’s progress on climate, health, energy, and equity initiatives. The dashboard aims to provide transparent metrics that stakeholders, including public officials, private organizations, and community leaders, can use to monitor progress and accountability. It integrates real-time data to support collaborative decision-making and highlights successes and gaps in achieving the city's sustainability goals. This tool is a centerpiece of The Carbon League’s strategy to drive high-impact, measurable outcomes.

Current 90-day Sprint: 90-day sprint: Retrieve utility docket data and consolidate it into the community dashboard.

25Q2: Building Decarb & Energy Efficiency

New Building Performance Standards Scoreboard

April 2024-April 2025

12-month goal: Centered on developing a stakeholder-informed building scoreboard and scorecard that measures health, wealth, and emissions impacts to accelerate the adoption of new Building Performance Standards (BPS) in Evanston, IL. This includes engaging community voices to ensure equitable input, identifying data sources and baselines, and aligning with city-wide climate and equity goals. Over the following 12 months, the Task Force aims to produce a replicable and transparent scoreboard model and case study to drive accountability and measurable progress in building decarbonization across Greater Chicago.

Current 90-day Sprint: Convene Stakeholders by types & roles, to decide metrics for scorecard & scoreboard.

25Q2 Health, Prosperity & Resilience

Community Driven Collaboration Framework - East St. Louis

April 2025-April 2026

12-month goal: Building a collaborative framework for measurable progress in enhancing East St. Louis' health, prosperity, and resilience. This includes emphasizing the need for resident-driven clean energy initiatives, transformation of underutilized land into an Ameren clean energy industrial park, and tackling food insecurity through community-led efforts.

Current 90-day Sprint: Convene the community through focus groups to:

  1. Align on key metrics and goals

  2. Engage champions/partners

  3. Launch pilot projects

Maps and Reports

Meet the Midwest Team - Fellows and Support Staff

Meet the Team - Undergraduate Volunteers

  • Darya Dubinina

    Undergraduate Volunteer

    Northwestern University

    LinkedIn

  • Karo Harutyunyan

    Undergraduate Volunteer

    Northwestern University

    LinkedIn

  • Maria Monroy Lopez

    Undergraduate Volunteer

    Northwestern University

    LinkedIn

  • Gabrielle Walthour

    Summer Unpaid Intern

    Northwestern University

    LinkedIn