Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund Competitions for $27 Billion Finally Ready for Prime Time

After some fits and starts, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced three competitions under the $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF), established by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in 2022. According to the EPA, “Together, these competitive grant opportunities will mobilize private capital into clean technology projects to create good-paying jobs and lower energy costs for American families, especially in low-income and disadvantaged communities, while cutting harmful pollution to protect people’s health and tackle the climate crisis.”

On June 28, the administration and the EPA announced the Solar for All competition for $7 billion to fund residential solar programs that “will lower energy costs for families, create good-quality jobs in communities that have been left behind, advance environmental justice, and tackle the climate crisis.” The EPA plans to award up to 60 grants to states, territories, tribal governments, municipalities, and eligible nonprofits to create and expand low-income solar programs that provide financing and technical assistance for low-income and disadvantaged communities to deploy and benefit from residential solar. The deadline to apply for these solar grants is Sept. 26, 2023.

On July 14, the administration launched grant competitions for up to $20 billion to create a national clean financing network. While there are two separate grant competitions, the deadline to apply for both is Oct. 12, 2023:

• The $14 billion National Clean Investment Fund will provide grants to support two or three national nonprofit clean financing institutions. These banks will partner with the private sector to provide accessible, affordable financing for thousands of clean technology projects nationwide. Individuals, families, nonprofits, governments and small businesses will have access to capital needed to implement clean technology projects in homes and businesses. The program requires that at least 40 percent of these funds be invested in low-income and disadvantaged communities that face environmental justice issues, including rural and tribal communities and counties with persistent poverty.
• The $6 billion Clean Communities Investment Accelerator will provide grants to up to seven nonprofit hub organizations to provide funding and technical assistance to public community lenders to support clean technology projects. One-hundred percent of these Investment Accelerator funds will be dedicated to low-income and disadvantaged communities.

All three of these notice of funding opportunities come none too soon, as the EPA was supposed to begin distributing dollars from the GGRF in February 2023 and, pursuant to the IRA, all $27 billion must be deployed by Sept. 30, 2024.

For more information, please contact the Barnes & Thornburg attorney with whom you work or Bruce White at 312-214-4584 or bwhite@btlaw.com.