2019 Annual Report

Growing Our Power
IECEF is in a stronger position than ever to accomplish our priorities. We entered 2019 with a new vision, mission and strategic plan that will take us into a new decade with a renewed sense of our purpose and priorities. We also expanded six new staff roles, including a new agriculture and water programs director, development director, communications director, finance director, office manager and clean water advocate.

Our physical footprint continues to grow along with us. In 2018, IECEF purchased a new office building just blocks from the Capitol Building in downtown Springfield. Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, we were able to make a series of sustainability upgrades to our new home, and in 2019, we installed a 9.72kW rooftop solar array. Consistent with our role as a convener of our movement, our new building has become a hub for the environmental community during legislative sessions and serves a communal space for our movement.

Green Legislature and Green Governor
IECEF’s policy knowledge, education efforts and statewide reach positioned our community to gain substantial ground in 2019 and beyond.

Governor JB Prizker signed Illinois on to the US Climate Alliance as one of his first acts, committing Illinois to achieving 100% renewable energy by 2050, and publicly stated his intention to pass a comprehensive clean energy bill without the influence of big utility companies.

In a demonstration of the growing strength of our community and increasing seriousness with which the General Assembly prioritizes environmental issues, IECEF is proud to say that the 2019 legislative session was one of the most productive in decades.

We now have an unprecedented pro-climate action majority in both the Illinois House and Senate. Both bodies voted to repeal the Kyoto Protocol Act of 1998, an outdated law originally passed to prevent Illinois from taking independent action to regulate carbon. 

In most years, repealing this ill-advised legislation would have been a highlight, but in 2019, it was only a precursor of bigger things to come. Introduced in February of 2019, the Clean Energy Jobs Act would make Illinois a national leader in building a just and equitable clean energy economy while tackling climate change. And Illinois voters are ready: over two lobby days, IEC and our affiliates brought over 1,000 people to lobby day in Springfield, marking the largest events in our 44 year history.

Environmental Policy Wins
In 2019, we coordinated a broad and ambitious environmental legislative agenda, defeated potentially damaging legislation and secured important appropriations in the state budget.

The class of freshman lawmakers brought protection of the environment to a new level. Nineteen of the 50 lawmakers receiving a 100% rating in our annual scorecard were in their first legislative session, setting the stage for many promising opportunities over the next few years.

Thanks to these new and existing champions in the legislature, we made polluters pay to clean up coal ash, banned BPA receipts, removed prohibitions on the regulation of carbon emissions, curtailed illegal logging, protected soil health, fostered water jobs, encouraged reuse and recycling, secured nation-leading energy efficiency standards for cannabis production, funded a billion in environmental programs through the capital plan, and so much more.

Environmental Justice
Our new strategic plan recognizes that IECEF is a historically white-led organization that needs to make significant strides in holding ourselves accountable to the communities we aim to serve. Examples of environmental racism are all around us, and it is our responsibility to help break down the systemic barriers to clean air, water, and open spaces. Our work is not done until frontline communities, communities of color, and under-served communities all across our state benefit from these essential resources.

What Does the Future Look Like
It is an exciting time for IECEF and for the environmental community in Illinois and we are more optimistic than ever. We saw youth lead our movement, as thousands marched in our streets for climate action, building bridges and momentum with real results. After all, the work we’re doing today will impact their futures more than anyone else.

As IECEF grows stronger, so too does our community. If you have joined us by taking action, donating, attending a lobby day or volunteering in some way, please know how much we appreciate you.

In community,

Jennifer Walling