To propel clean energy incentives across U.S. communities, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced this week that it has awarded $20 billion in grants to eight community development banks and nonprofit organizations for greenhouse gas- and air pollution-reducing projects. Following the grant announcement, EPA will host informational webinars as part of the program’s commitment to public transparency on April 10 and April 11.
Award funding will support a wide range of climate and clean energy projects, including distributed clean power generation and storage, net-zero retrofits of homes and small businesses, and zero-emission transportation, the Biden-Harris administration announced. The awards will also support good-paying clean energy jobs that will help low-income communities historically left behind in clean energy and climate initiatives.
Grants were awarded to eight entities from the National Clean Investment Fund and the Clean Communities Investment Accelerator, two competitive grant programs under EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (see below). Recipients have committed to driving significant impact to achieve a more sustainable economy, including reducing or avoiding up to 40 million metric tons of climate pollution per year. Selectees will also mobilize almost $7 of private capital for every $1 of federal funds, “ensuring that each public dollar is leveraged for significant private-sector investments,” EPA reports. Furthermore, selectees will also dedicate over $14 billion of capital—over 70% of the selections for awards announced—to low-income and disadvantaged communities.
“President Biden and Vice President Harris have put communities at the center of their Investing in America agenda. Today, we’re putting an unprecedented $20 billion to work in communities that for too long have been shut out of resources to lower costs and benefit from clean technology solutions,” said EPA administrator Michael S. Regan. “The selectees announced today will deliver transformational investments for American communities, businesses, and families and unleash tens of thousands of clean technology projects like putting solar on small businesses, electrifying affordable housing, providing EV loans for young families, and countless others. That translates to good-paying jobs, energy bill savings, and cleaner air, all while delivering on President Biden’s historic agenda to combat climate change.”
As part of the Clean Communities Investment Accelerator, five institutions received grants to work with other groups to establish hubs that will make funding and technical assistance accessible to community lenders. Under the National Clean Investment Fund, three selected applicants will establish national clean financing institutions that deliver accessible, affordable financing for clean technology projects nationwide. Read more about the selected applicants and their work commitments on EPA’s website.
Learn more in the EPA’s upcoming informational webinars:
About the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund
President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which supports the administration’s green goals in its Investing in America agenda, authorized the EPA to create and implement the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a $27 billion investment to combat the climate crisis by mobilizing financing and private capital for greenhouse gas- and air pollution-reducing projects in communities across the country.
Together, the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund’s National Clean Investment Fund, Clean Communities Investment Accelerator, and Solar for All programs “will finance clean technology deployment nationally, finance clean technology deployment in low-income and disadvantaged communities while simultaneously building the capacity of community lenders that serve those communities, and spur adoption of clean distributed solar energy that lowers energy bills for millions of Americans in low-income and disadvantaged communities.”
Related News:
