United States – Vice President Kamala Harris and the Environmental Protection Agency Administrator (EPA), Michael Regan, on Thursday announced eight organizations, including the Justice Department, the Department of Transportation, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, among others, which will supervise the spending of USD 20 billion in grants to support tens of thousands of clean energy and transportation projects in disadvantaged communities across the U.S.
Clean Energy Projects
The USD 20 billion, which would have contributed largely towards projects ranging from home energy retrofitting programs to off-grid renewable energy in communities that otherwise lacked green energy financing, is set to come from the USD 27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) created in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, as reported by Reuters.
A Path to USD 130 Billion Impact
The selected organizations will form a national clean financing network to leverage USD 130 billion over the next seven years, avoiding or reducing 40 million metric tons of climate pollution every year.
“The grantees announced today will help ensure that families, small businesses, and community leaders have access to the capital they need to make climate and clean energy projects a reality in their neighborhoods,” Harris said in a statement.
Addressing Congressional Opposition
EPA intends to receive the funds by September of this year in order to disburse them to organizations. The GGRF has been a key element, facing opposition from congressional Republicans, and has recently passed a resolution to eliminate a climate “slush fund.”
Three non-profit coalitions, which were represented in the national network community development financial institutions, local green banks, and other community lending organizations, were decided to benefit from a USD 14 billion National Clean Investment Fund that sought to promote and support the affordable clean technologies projects.
Another group of five winners administrating the Clean Communities Investment Accelerator Fund amounts to USD 6 billion. This fund will focus on providing financial assistance as well as technical assistance to community-based lenders, which will work with low-income and disadvantaged communities to launch and expand clean technology projects.
Focus on Rural and Tribal Communities
Out of USD 20 billion, at least USD 4 billion USD
1.5 billion will be invested into rural communities and programs uplifting people from tribal nations, as reported by Reuters.
The fund recipients will have to succeed in motivated private capital of about USD 7 for every USD 1 they allocate from the federal government.