CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — As Illinois continues its efforts to phase out carbon emissions, an expert on industry and energy says achieving zero emissions won’t just be great for the planet — but it could also be the best thing for businesses, including those in Chicago.
“Chicago is big and is a major manufacturing center, which brings challenges and opportunities,” said Jeffrey Rissman, director of the Industry Program at Energy Innovation, a think tank on clean energy.
Rissman, who’s also a Chicago native, recently published his book, “Zero Carbon Industry: Transformative Technologies and Policies to Achieve Sustainable Prosperity,” which examines how industry across the globe can eliminate its climate pollution and supply transformational technologies at the same time.
He told WBBM that a “transformation of industry” is already underway, as more manufacturers adopt processes that can produce “all of the materials and goods we need without pollution.”
“These technologies require investment in new, cleaner and electrified equipment, which leads to more jobs and then the spending from those workers further boosts the economy,” he said. “The Chicago area is well positioned in this regard, because the Chicago metro area has more than 400,000 manufacturing jobs — the third-most in the U.S.”
In 2021, Illinois enacted the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, which is geared toward transitioning the state to clean electricity, which Rissman said makes the job of “cleaning up” easier for manufacturers.
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