Electrify Chicago Blog

• Do High Emitting Buildings Report Emissions Less Often?

  Published Mar. 6th, 2025

  Qualitatively, some readers have reported that buildings who report high levels of emissions seem to stop reporting. This blog post looks at the data to determine if there is a pattern in the data that links high emitting buildings to non-reporting. We find that despite anecdotal observations, there seems to be no pattern for buildings that have higher GHG intensities in the prior year or upwardly trending GHG intensities to stop reporting the following year.

• City Of Chicago Failed to Collect $30 Million In Potential Fines from Building Benchmarking Ordinance

  Published Feb. 2nd, 2024

  The City of Chicago didn't fully enforce the benchmarking ordinance that requires the owners of large building to report their emissions - and based on the fine amounts laid out in the ordinance, we calculated the city missed out on millions and harmed transparency and accountability.