Illinois has committed to a 100 percent carbon-free power sector by 2050 — but that goal doesn’t fully address the emissions generated on-site by buildings. A new policy framework from the Climate Jobs Institute and the Indoor Climate Research & Training Center reviews the state and federal policies that support building electrification, identifies future opportunities for policy development, and lays out recommendations for effective policy implementation to support communities and workers.
On-site fossil fuel combustion in Illinois buildings — primarily natural gas used for space heating, water heating, and cooking — accounts for roughly 17 percent of the state’s total greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Illinois EPA’s Comprehensive Climate Action Plan (2025).
These on-site building emissions can be reduced through energy efficiency, renewable energy development, and electrification — replacing fossil-fuel systems with electric alternatives like heat pumps. Electrification is a critical piece of a holistic building decarbonization strategy, but it isn’t happening at scale yet. High upfront costs, rising electricity rates, a shortage of qualified contractors, and consumer skepticism are all slowing adoption.
Key Findings
Illinois has a meaningful policy foundation, but it hasn’t yet produced wide-scale electrification. The Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA, 2021) and the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act (CRGA, 2026) together support electrification through goal-setting, energy efficiency reforms, grid modernization, and new incentive programs. The Illinois Commerce Commission’s Future of Gas Proceedings are beginning to chart a longer-term course for the gas system. But high upfront costs, scarce qualified contractors, and consumer perceptions continue to limit adoption.
Several policy gaps present opportunities for future policy development. Illinois has no statewide carbon-free buildings goal, limited clean heat requirements for gas utilities, limited rate structures that keep electric heating cost-competitive with gas as electricity prices rise, and no modifications to the obligation-to-serve statute that requires utilities to extend gas infrastructure to new construction.
Without intentional design, electrification risks harming the households it’s meant to help. Low-income households, renters, and residents of older housing stock face the steepest barriers to accessing electrification — and the greatest financial risk if a program is poorly designed, from rising utility bills to being stranded on a shrinking, increasingly expensive gas system.
Illinois will need a larger, better-trained workforce. Electrifying the building sector can create jobs — but training programs, credentialing requirements, and job placement support all need to scale in coordination with incentive programs, or the state risks bottlenecks or a workforce trained for jobs that don’t yet exist.
Installation quality is an underappreciated risk to the electrification effort. Heat pumps are more sensitive to installation quality than the gas systems they replace — common deficiencies like insufficient refrigerant, inadequate airflow, or leaky ducts can cut efficiency by 20 to 40 percent individually, and up to half when combined. Very few existing programs require the training, credentialing, or inspections needed to catch these problems before they reach customers.