A Multi-Billion Dollar EPA Fund Is Delivering the Energy Transition to Overlooked Communities

This policy brief by RMI discusses the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) and provides recommendations to ensure it effectively delivers an equitable energy transition to underserved communities and small businesses.

• The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) is a $27 billion EPA program intended to use the expertise of community lenders to provide decarbonization financing to 'Main Street communities' and businesses that have been neglected by mainstream finance.
• Strategic deployment of GGRF funds could mobilize more than $250 billion over a decade by leveraging other public and private funding, including the Inflation Reduction Act's estimated $390 billion in energy and climate incentives.
• GGRF recipients can act as bridges to bankability for large Wall Street financial institutions—which hold $64 trillion in assets under management—by standardizing and aggregating smaller deals that do not meet the risk-return requirements of large banks.
• To create lasting wealth in low-income communities, the GGRF should move beyond traditional 'credit enhancement' products like loan guarantees, which protect lenders rather than improving the borrower's long-term credit or ability to access affordable debt.
• Community development financial institutions (CDFIs) and credit unions are central to the transition; currently, over 500 of these institutions offer green loan products.

APA

RMI (2023). A Multi-Billion Dollar EPA Fund Is Delivering the Energy Transition to Overlooked Communities. https://rmi.org/resources/a-multi-billion-dollar-epa-fund-is-delivering-the-energy-transition-to-overlooked-communities/

Chicago

RMI. A Multi-Billion Dollar EPA Fund Is Delivering the Energy Transition to Overlooked Communities. 2023. https://rmi.org/resources/a-multi-billion-dollar-epa-fund-is-delivering-the-energy-transition-to-overlooked-communities/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=A Multi-Billion Dollar EPA Fund Is Delivering the Energy Transition to Overlooked Communities |date=17 July 2023 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/a-multi-billion-dollar-epa-fund-is-delivering-the-energy-transition-to-overlooked-communities/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2023multibillion, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{A Multi-Billion Dollar EPA Fund Is Delivering the Energy Transition to Overlooked Communities}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2023}, month = jul, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/a-multi-billion-dollar-epa-fund-is-delivering-the-energy-transition-to-overlooked-communities/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }