EPA is on the verge of transferring $27 billion to state and nonprofit grantees to bolster green lending in poor and moderate-income communities across the country.
But the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund — the largest nontax program in President Joe Biden’s signature climate law — also aims to convince private lenders to put up their own dollars to support projects and create a sustainable flow of green capital.
On Tuesday, an EPA panel of outside financial advisers mulled how the agency and its awardees could attract private dollars to electrify homes and offices. The experts hailed from law, business and other fields, and they agreed that attracting lenders from outside the small world of green finance was a challenging but necessary step to ensure the program leaves a lasting legacy.
“Are we building one-off boutique solutions? Or are we building solutions that can actually be replicated by others in the market that may come after us?” said Chrissa Pagitsas, former head of green financing at Fannie Mae.
