Gov. J.B. Pritzker is scheduled to make his first international trip on state business next week, traveling to London and Glasgow, Scotland, to promote the state’s new clean energy law and economic development opportunities.
Pritzker and top aides will arrive in London on Tuesday to meet with business leaders and promote “Illinois’ economic development opportunities and prospects for investment within our burgeoning green economy,” according to the governor’s office.
On Nov. 5, the Democratic governor will lead an Illinois delegation to the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties in Glasgow, where he will promote the law he signed last month that aims to put Illinois on a path to 100% carbon-free energy by 2050.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a fellow Democrat, also is scheduled to attend the U.N. summit.
Pritzker declined to answer questions about the trip Wednesday during an unrelated news conference in Springfield. His office did not respond immediately to a request for comment on how much the trip will cost or whether the billionaire governor will be paying for any portion of it out of his own pocket.
During the legislature’s fall session this week, Pritzker is pushing for lawmakers to approve a package of tax credits and incentives for electric vehicle companies to attract more manufacturers and suppliers to the state. Lawmakers have yet to take up the proposal.
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Pritzker has aimed to position Illinois a leader in the growing industry, building off the success of the Rivian electric vehicle factory that opened in a former Mitsubishi plant in Normal with state assistance under his predecessor, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. Earlier this year, Pritzker announced a $7.9 million tax credit deal that is bringing Montreal-based Lion Electric Co. to the state to build electric buses and trucks in Joliet.
“I am working very hard on making sure that we’re attracting electric vehicle manufacturers and suppliers to the state of Illinois,” Pritzker said during his news conference. “So that’s something we worked very hard on, talking to those suppliers and manufacturers directly to figure out, what is it that they would like to see us do?”
The state’s highly educated workforce and its transportation infrastructure allow it to compete without having to “throw hundreds of millions of dollars” in incentives at companies to attract them, Pritzker said.
The state’s new energy law sets deadlines for shutting down coal- and natural gas-fired power plants, establishes ambitious goals for boosting renewable energy production in the state through charges on customers’ power bills, and also puts customers on the hook for a nearly $700 million bailout of nuclear power plants owned by the parent company of scandal-plagued Commonwealth Edison.
Gorner reported from Springfield.
