The Environmental Protection Agency provides grants to 2–7 hub nonprofits that will provide funding and technical assistance to specific industry networks of public, quasi-public, not-for-profit, and nonprofit community lenders, supporting the goal that every community in the country has access to the capital they need to deploy clean technology projects in their homes, small businesses, schools, and community institutions.
Donor Name: Environmental Protection Agency
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 10/12/2023
Size of the Grant: $6,000,000,000
Grant Duration: 6 years
Details:
This Notice of Funding Opportunity provides details on the $6 billion Clean Communities Investment Accelerator competition. These community lenders could include community development financial institutions (including Certified Native CDFIs), credit unions, green banks, housing finance agencies, minority depository institutions, and other types of lenders. As a result of this competition, hundreds of these community lenders will launch new or expand existing programs to provide low-income and disadvantaged communities much-needed capital to deploy emissions- and air pollution-reducing projects that reduce energy costs, improve health outcomes, create good jobs, and more—and they will have the financial and technical resources to sustain these programs for years to come. To multiply the impact of public funds, these hub nonprofits will provide funding and technical assistance that not only mobilizes private sector investment on projects directly supported by grant funds but also creates self-sustaining programs across hundreds of community lenders. To ensure that public funds are spent efficiently and for the maximum benefit of American communities, especially low-income and disadvantaged communities, these hub nonprofits will be subject to, among other measures, rigorous low-income and disadvantaged community engagement and accountability strategies; comprehensive equity policies and practices; robust labor and workforce plans; strong governance structures; stringent legal and compliance risk management and consumer protection plans; and cohesive programmatic, financial, and administrative reporting and transparency requirements—in addition to being subject to conducting significant diligence prior to providing funding and technical assistance to community lenders.
GGRF Program Objectives
The Clean Communities Investment Accelerator will advance the three GGRF program objectives of reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and other air pollutants; delivering benefits to American communities, particularly low-income and disadvantaged communities; and mobilizing financing and private capital
- Program Objective 1: Reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and other air pollutants. Grantees will provide capital for community lenders to invest and re-invest in projects, activities, and technologies that reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and other air pollutants that harm communities and contribute to climate change. Grantees—and the community lenders they support—will accelerate progress toward the climate goals of the United States, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions 50-52 percent below 2005 levels in 2030, reaching 50 percent zero-emission vehicles share of all new passenger cars and light trucks sold in 2030, achieving a carbon pollution-free electricity sector by 2035, and achieving net-zero emissions by no later than 2050
- Program Objective 2: Deliver benefits of greenhouse gas- and air pollution-reducing projects to American communities, particularly low-income and disadvantaged communities. Grantees will ensure that the projects that community lenders invest in directly benefit Americans by improving health outcomes, lowering energy costs, creating high-quality jobs, and more. 100% of funds awarded under this competition must be used for the purposes of providing financial and technical assistance in low-income and disadvantaged communities
- Program Objective 3: Mobilize financing and private capital to stimulate additional deployment of greenhouse gas- and air pollution-reducing projects. Grantees will work with community lenders to mobilize financing and private capital for underinvested projects and underinvested communities, which will build the long-term capacity of community lenders to finance clean technology projects in low-income and disadvantaged communities. As a result, grantees will spur market transformation, supporting market wide accessibility of affordable financing for clean technology projects to multiply the impact of grant funds.
Priority Project Categories
For this competition, priority project categories include: distributed energy generation and storage; net-zero emissions buildings; and zero-emissions transportation. A project that falls within one or more of the priority project categories is likely to be a qualified project, but it is not guaranteed to be a qualified project. All projects ultimately supported through this competition by capitalization funding, technical assistance subawards, and technical assistance services must be both qualified projects and priority projects.
- Distributed Energy Generation and Storage: Projects, activities, and technologies that deploy small-scale power generation and/or storage technologies (typically from 1 kW to 10,000 kW), plus enabling infrastructure necessary for deployment of such generation and/or storage technologies.
- Net-Zero Emissions Buildings: Projects, activities, and technologies that either retrofit an existing building, making a substantial contribution to that building being a net-zero emissions building and as part of a plan for that building achieving zero-over-time, or construct a new net-zero emissions building in a low-income and disadvantaged community
- Zero-Emissions Transportation: Projects, activities, and technologies that deploy zeroemissions transportation modes, plus enabling infrastructure necessary for zero-emissions transportation modes—especially in communities that are overburdened by existing diesel pollution, particulate matter concentration, and degraded air quality.
Funding Information
EPA anticipates awarding $6 billion in funding through this opportunity. There is no minimum or maximum award amount for this competition, subject to EPA’s initial estimate that $6 billion will be available for funding under this competition.
Period of Performance
EPA anticipates that programs funded under this opportunity will start by July 2024. All expenditures and disbursements with the grant award funds must be made within the negotiated period of performance of up to 6 years.
Eligibility Criteria
Consistent with Clean Air Act, an applicant that is eligible to receive a grant under the Clean Communities Investment Accelerator competition must be an “eligible recipient,” which is an organization that: is a nonprofit; is designed to provide capital, leverage private capital, and provide other forms of financial assistance for the rapid deployment of low- and zero-emission products, technologies, and services; does not take deposits other than deposits from repayments and other revenue received from financial assistance provided using grant funds under this program; is funded by public or charitable contributions; and invests in or finances projects alone or in conjunction with other investors.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
