The EPA is making $27 billion in “green bank” loans
The Biden administration on Tuesday outlined how states and nonprofit groups can apply for $27 billion in funding from a “green bank,” which provides low-cost financing for projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, created by the landmark climate bill passed by Congress last year, will invest in clean energy projects nationwide, with a focus on low-income and disadvantaged communities.
The Environmental Protection Agency expects to award $20 billion in competitive grants to as many 15 nonprofit groups working with local banks and other financial institutions to invest in projects that reduce pollution and lower energy bills for people lower families.
Another $7 billion will be awarded to states, tribes and local governments to implement a variety of solar energy projects, including residential rooftop solar, community solar and solar storage.
EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the green bank — modeled on similar banks created in states like Connecticut, New York and California — will unlock billions of dollars in private investment to enable neighborhoods and communities “that still… have never participated in the clean energy economy”. participate with full force” in the creation of green jobs.
Low-income and disadvantaged communities “who pay the largest percentage of their income on energy bills have been locked out of the investment game (and) haven’t seen an injection of private capital to help them seize opportunities for many reasons,” said Regan, the first Blacks at the top of the EPA.
“Our focus here is to make sure this $27 billion opportunity is thought through enough for this community, this population, to ride with,” he added. “Of course there would be no reason for the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund if this had happened sooner. Our job is to get private capital off the sidelines.”
The program is expected to begin awarding grants this summer and has already received nearly 400 responses to preliminary inquiries, said Jahi Wise, the program’s acting director.
Even before the grants are awarded, Republicans in Congress have targeted the green bank, labeling it a taxpayer-funded “slush fund” ripe for abuse.
Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Ala., said he will sponsor a bill to repeal the fund, which he said will benefit Wall Street firms but “will not help the American people with their electric bills.”
“Will this $27 billion smear fund lower heating bills for these American families?” asked Palmer.
Sean Kelly, a spokesman for House Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., said the fund “dedicates an incredible amount of authority and resources to the EPA” but lacks measures to address accountability or transparency in terms of resources to ensure needed.
“In other words, this provision creates a taxpayer-funded slush fund for Wall Street and increases the risk of overspending, fraud and abuse,” Kelly said in a statement. “It’s not a responsible way to allocate these resources.”
Democrats were much more optimistic, calling the fund a historic opportunity to cut greenhouse gas emissions, protect public health and create economic opportunity in disadvantaged and underserved communities.
“We have fought for years to take the idea of a national climate bank from vision to reality. With EPA’s action today, we’re one step closer,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., who campaigned for the green bench with Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey and other Democrats.
Markey and Van Hollen said in a statement they will work with EPA to ensure the new fund has national scope, has a significant “multiplier effect” with private investment, and engages diverse stakeholders, including “communities living in the were underserved by banks in the past”. and other financial institutions.
Learn how to navigate and build trust in your organization with The Trust Factor, a weekly newsletter exploring what leaders need to succeed. Login here.
