The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) creates and shares environmental data to help northeastern Illinois understand current conditions and prepare for future resilience. Download CMAP’s environment and water data on the Data Hub.

Greenhouse gas emissions inventory and local summaries

The regional greenhouse gas emissions inventory provides a summary for the region’s seven counties — Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and Will. The report includes newly developed emission estimates for 2019, as well as updated emissions estimates for 2010 and 2015 for building, transportation, and waste sectors.

To help communities reduce emissions and track progress toward long-term goals, CMAP also creates local emissions summaries for each of the region’s counties, 284 municipalities, and 77 Chicago neighborhoods. These snapshots include an emissions summary with energy, transportation, and community characteristics.

Flood susceptibility indexes

CMAP developed the urban and riverine flood susceptibility indexes to identify priorities across the region for flood mitigation activities. The indexes show areas that could be more susceptible to flooding, such as overtopping riverbanks, surface ponding, overland flow, water seepage, and basement backups.

Water demand forecast

CMAP, in partnership with Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant and the University of Illinois Extension, updated the regional water demand forecast to the year 2050 for the region’s 7 counties. The ON TO 2050 regional water demand forecast uses the socioeconomic forecast and water withdrawal trends to estimate future withdrawals.

Read a brief overview of forecasted water demand by 2050, important factors driving water demand, and how planning decisions can help to conserve shared water supply resources. You also can download the water demand forecast data, including community-level demand forecasts, reported water withdrawals, and data on current and projected demand drivers for 245 municipalities.

Environmental justice

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s environmental justice mapping and screening tool, EJScreen, helps explore the interconnections among emissions, public health, and social vulnerability. It features a series of environmental and demographic mapping indicators and indices that identify exposure to pollutants, including ozone, particulate matter, lead, and traffic proximity and volume.

Nature-based solutions

The Natural Solutions Tool helps to focus strategic investments on green infrastructure, prioritize communities of greatest need, and reveal where the benefits of nature-based solutions can improve community and environmental health. It covers 1,300 square miles and includes nearly 1.5 million parcels in 176 municipalities and 42 subwatersheds in Cook, Lake, DuPage, and Will counties.

Tree canopy

The Chicago Region Trees Initiative offers data and resources for local government, nonprofit organizations, and others to protect and expand their tree canopy. The website includes maps, weather risks, and vulnerable populations to help decision makers prioritize areas for action. 

Green Values Calculator

The Center for Neighborhood Technology’s Green Values Calculator estimates the environmental benefits and monetary savings associated with deployments of bioswales, tree plantings, native landscaping, and other kinds of stormwater green infrastructure.

Green Infrastructure Vision

The Green Infrastructure Vision is a spatial dataset representing the Chicago Wilderness Biodiversity Recovery Plan, developed through a collaborative and consensus-based process. It characterizes green infrastructure resources to support conservation and restoration decisions in the region. The Green Infrastructure Vision data package contains spatial information about type and quality of ecosystems that make up the regional green infrastructure network. It is accompanied by two studies that classify ecosystems by landscape characteristics and estimate the value of ecosystem services provided by the Green Infrastructure Vision.