originally published in Crain’s Chicago Business, August 24, 2011
(Crain’s) — A new green economy report slated for release this week by Mayor Rahm Emanuel aims to double the current number of mostly private-sector green jobs in the Chicago area to 50,000 by 2020, and possibly result in savings to the city and private sector of as much as $1.2 billion of the $6.7 billion spent annually on energy and other resources.
However, the report does not call for the creation of any new city-sponsored programs or financial investment to make those numbers a reality. The mayor eventually will launch some new programs to encourage growth in the local green economy but it’s too early to tell when that might occur, said Karen Weigert, the city’s new chief sustainability officer. Ms. Weigert said the mayor is looking to the private sector to take the lead.
Chicago recently was awarded a $6-million grant from the Bloomberg Philanthropies, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s private foundation, and is expected to allocate some of those funds toward energy efficiency projects.
The upbeat report points to business ventures that can make buildings more energy-efficient as the largest potential driver of job creation and cost savings. According to the recommendations, strategies including energy-efficiency building retrofits, water meters and a smart grid could lead to an estimated 12,000 new jobs in Chicago. Clean and renewable energy sources could create 3,000 to 5,000 additional jobs in the Chicago area by 2020, said the report, which was prepared with assistance from Boston Consulting Group.
The report is intended to connect the dots between the environmental objectives of the Chicago Climate Action Plan and the mayor’s interest in promoting green-sector economic opportunities and job growth, Ms. Weigert said.
“Adopting sustainable practices . . . will also create more jobs in the private sector and cut what we spend on managing our resources by as much as 30%,” she said.
The Chicago Climate Action Plan was unveiled by Mayor Richard M. Daley in 2008 with participation from independent organizations that identified climate change challenges. The plan included strategies to reduce carbon emissions and help Chicago adapt to changes resulting from shifts in weather patterns.
The new study shows the city is advancing in fulfilling the goals of the action plan and simultaneously expanding the green economy: The number of jobs in that sector rose by 2.1% between 2007 and 2010 in the Chicago area. Overall, jobs in the area decreased by 2.3% during the same period. However, Chicago lags behind San Francisco — which had 6.4% growth during that period — Philadelphia, New York and other cities in green-job growth, according to the report, which cited the Brookings Institution and government sources.
Howard Learner, executive director of the Chicago-based non-profit Environmental Law and Policy Center, hadn’t read the report, but he said he isn’t surprised the new mayor is emphasizing that job growth should come from private enterprise. The city’s Department of Environment doesn’t have a large team of energy auditors, for example, and there is already lots of private activity and investment funds focusing on energy efficiency in buildings, he said.
“The mayor is faced with many challenges and competing priorities, so not everything can be done in the first 100 days,” says Mr. Learner. “It sounds like they’re taking the Chicago Climate Action Plan goals and sharpening them into an implementation plan. They’re on the right path, but let’s see how they move forward.”
“We’re at the front end of this growth trajectory,” says Amy Francetic, executive director of the Clean Energy Trust, a Chicago non-profit. “Lots of clean-tech companies are just finding capital, but they also need the mayor to support them with a more streamlined permitting process for certain projects or city government letters of support when they apply for grant applications.”
The Clean Energy Trust has mentored about 100 startups and individuals over the past year in the clean-tech sector in seeking financing and with other advice.
“A large number will fail and won’t survive beyond startup stage, and some will grow exponentially,” predicted Ms. Francetic, who also served on the mayor’s transition team. “Many of them will need significant funding to get to the next stage of business development.”
