Illinois Green's annual Limelight Celebration, recognizing the region’s top achievements and outstanding volunteers in sustainability, will be held on November 12, 2026 at the Union League Club of Chicago.

Limelight will bring together a diverse network of industry leaders working in the sustainability field. Join us as we honor and recognize the latest achievements in green building innovation, design, and technology.

SAVE THE DATE!

Thursday, November 12, 2026

5:30 PM - 9:00 PM CT
Union League Club of Chicago

Emerald Awards Ceremony
Illinois Green's Emerald Awards, launched in 2008, recognizes outstanding individual or organizational achievement helping to put Illinois on a path to 100% net zero buildings by 2050. Each year, awardees are determined by the Illinois Green Alliance governing board and honor the industry influencers, advocates, and thought leadership advancing net zero design, technology, and policy.

This year, the Emerald Award Ceremony will also be an opportunity to share an update to Illinois Green Alliance’s Net Zero Honor Roll and Watch List, an initiative to raise awareness of the buildings achieving the highest level of green building certifications around net zero energy, carbon, water, and waste.

2025 Individual Achievement Award

A.J. Patton, this year’s Net Zero Hero honoree for individual leadership, has built a reputation as a champion for high-performance affordable housing and equitable development in Chicago. His projects—including a high-efficiency complex in Auburn Gresham, a passive house in West Humboldt Park, and the city’s largest Phius Design Certified development, Humboldt Park Passive Living—demonstrate how innovative design can reduce resident utility bills while expanding access to sustainable, affordable housing.


2025 Organizational Achievement Award

The City of Evanston  will be honored this year as the recipient of the Organizational Emerald Award for leadership in advancing municipal climate policy. With the adoption of its Climate Action and Resilience Plan (CARP) in 2018, Evanston set ambitious targets and has already made significant progress, reducing community-wide carbon emissions by 36% since 2005 and transitioning city operations to 100% green power. In 2025, Evanston strengthened its leadership by becoming the first city in Illinois to adopt the state’s new stretch energy code and passing the Healthy Buildings Ordinance, making it only the second city in the Midwest with a building performance standard. 

2026 Limelight Sponsorship Opportunities

Earn recognition at this signature event. Contact Sondra Morin, Development Manager, at smorin@illinoisgreenalliance.org to learn more and start the conversation.

Nominate an Awardee

If you'd like to suggest a potential awardee our Board of Directors should consider, fill out the contact form. Awardee suggestions can be made at any time of the year. Awardees are selected by August 15 and recognized at our Emerald Awards Ceremony in September.

Have a recommendation for consideration?

Submit the green building leader, company, or organization here:

Contact Us

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2023 Emerald Award Recipient

Sarah Elizabeth Ippel

Illinois Green’s 2023 Emerald Award for Individual Achievement is Sarah Elizabeth Ippel, Founder and Executive Director of the Academy for Global Citizenship, and CEO of Cultivate Collective.


Her uncompromising 20-year commitment to sustainable communities is reflected as a leader in the education and community revitalization fields. While the recently completed Cultivate Collective hub that houses the Academy for Global Citizenship on Chicago’s Southwest side, championed by Ippel, serves as a first-of-its kind net zero project, it is just the most recent example of her long-standing commitment to reflect the environmental values of the school in the physical design of the building. Throughout her career she has leveraged her experience from one project to the next, each time raising the bar for what can be accomplished.

“I am inspired by the way she brings the sustainability components of the buildings as an opportunity to influence the educational curriculum, improve the health and wellness of the community and engage the community in the process,” said John Mlade, Illinois Green Alliance’s Board Chair.

For her work, Ippel was named one of Monocle’s Top 20 International Pioneers in Education and visited the White House to receive a national award from the Obama administration in 2011. Forbes named her one of the nation's “top five game changers in education” and was the recipient of the GOOD 100 list of “people pushing the world forward through doing.” In June 2022, Crain's Chicago Business recognized Ippel as one of their “notable leaders in sustainability.”