Chicago Sustainable Businesses, NPOs, & More!
Whether you live in the Windy City or are visiting, check out these Chicago sustainable businesses, Non-Profit Organizations (NPOs), and more!
If you’d like to list your Chicago business, group, or initiative, click here.
Environmental Businesses & Groups In Chicago
Museums
Chicago has a lot of museums. These are the ones with sustainability-specific exhibits.
Climate Action Museum
The mission of the free Climate Action Museum is to activate a tipping point on climate mitigation in the Chicago region through education, stimulating critical thought, and inspiring and facilitating direct action.
The Nature Museum
The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum — also referred to as simply, “The Nature Museum”, is a natural history museum located in Chicago, Illinois, and operated by the Chicago Academy of Sciences. The museum traces its history to the founding collection of the academy in 1857.
The Nature Museum’s Chicago Conservation Corps (c3) program collaborates with partners across the city to inspire and fund lasting change through grassroots community organization and climate action. This program has a permanent Sustainability Center exhibition on the second floor of the museum.
The Nature Museum and C3 partnered with Sustainable Fashion Week Chicago for its debut. C3 leads and collaborates with many other creative and community-oriented projects that combine sustainability with the arts and culture.
Initiatives & Community Groups
A community of local members combating Bridgeport’s environmental issues through various projects.
Since 1998, Park Voyagers has served the community by connecting youth with experiential learning. In partnership between Museums and the Chicago Park District, Park Voyagers provides science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) opportunities to kids, young adults, and families.
Park Voyagers offers after-school programs, teen programs, family programs, and other resources.
The Chicago Global Shapers (CGS) is a part of the wider Global Shapers Community, an initiative founded by the World Economic Forum. CGS is comprised of young local leaders who seek to drive dialogue, action, and change. Sustainable Business Guide‘s founder, Macaila Britton, is a member of the WEF Global Shapers Chicago hub!
Sustainable Fashion Week (SFW) is the only global fashion week of its kind. Working with the community, SFW helps to make sustainable fashion accessible. Taking a creative, grassroots approach, hubs —locations around the world— empower people with skills and resources to help drive a positive shift in their relationship with clothes. Sustainable Fashion Week Chicago debuted in September 2024 and is returning with fashion shows in 2025! Year-round programming will run. Events will be shared on the website. SBG founder, Macaila Britton, is the founder of the Chicago location and the Chairwoman.
Coffee Shops & Roasters
Bridgeport Coffee Company is a roaster, retailer, and importer of fine coffees from around the globe with a coffee house in the South Side of Chicago. Beyond just organic and fair-trade products, Bridgeport Coffee directly partners with many of their growers, ensuring a shorter supply line to the finest globally produced beans that embody all the qualities you value for local roasting and flavor consistency.
Necessary & Sufficient Coffee
A sustainable-focused grab ‘n go take-out specialty coffee window and cafe located in the Logan Square West neighborhood and Printer’s Row.
Get 5% off your beverage order every day at all locations when you bring a reusable cup.
Co-Op & Local Markets
The Common Market is a nonprofit regional food distributor on a mission to connect urban communities with local food from sustainable family farms. Locations include Chicago, Illinois; the mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Texas, and Great Lakes areas.
The Common Market sells fresh, healthy food to community institutions while creating a supply chain for farmers and ranchers who are at the forefront of creating an equitable and resilient food system. Additionally, The Common Market provides avenues for values-aligned wholesale food procurement, guiding partners to see the full value of the food and its impact on the health of their people, community, and environment.
Dill Pickle Food Co-Op
Dill Pickle is a community-owned and locally grown grocery based in Logan Square, offering fresh produce, regular deals on food, and Link Match.
Zero Waste Shops
Chicago’s first zero-waste general store operates on a circular model with refillable options. Everything the shop carries is cruelty-free. The Eco Flamingo’s Sustainability Center hosts various eco-friendly workshops throughout the year. They also rent the space to the community.
A zero-waste grocery store for locals to place an order online and pick up at their weekly pop-up location.
The Refilleri is a Chicago zero-waste store in Humboldt Park, offering refillable or zero-waste solutions for a variety of products. Specializing in lifestyle, personal care, bulk foods, and home goods, The Refilleri brings high-quality items with little impact on the Earth. All items in the store are compostable, refillable, or reusable. The shop also hosts a variety of sustainable events throughout the year.
The Unwaste Shop supports a circular economy and promotes reuse and recycling. By sending as little as possible to the landfill, the shop hopes to lessen its environmental impact and leave a healthy planet for future generations. The Unwaste Shop’s goal is to provide sustainable alternatives to the stocked everyday items and refill station.
Zefiro is a zero-waste shop on a mission to help people reduce and reuse items. Zefiro offers products that are free of unnecessary packaging, while minimizing single-use waste, and is safe for both people and the planet.
Small Businesses & Local Shops
The store stocks small-batch makers throughout the US, while offering vegan, zero waste, renewable energy, and Native American-made products.
Environmental Non-Profits
Since 1979, Friends of the Chicago River has worked to improve the health of the Chicago River system for the benefit of people and wildlife. By doing so, this has laid the foundation for the river to be a beautiful, continuous, easily accessible corridor of open space in the Chicago region.
Urban Rivers is a nonprofit organization that aims at restoring the waterways in Chicago, Illinois. The organization is focused on studying and reviving the city’s river ecosystem and water health with floating wetlands.
SBG founder, Macaila Britton, wrote a blog post about her time volunteering with the non-profit. Read it, here!
Technology
GreenGeeks is an eco-friendly website hosting provider. It uses renewable energy instead of fossil fuels. And, there is a data center in Chicago.
