Opportunity Finance Network Finalizes $2.29 Billion Award to Finance a Clean and Just Energy Transition

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Aug 19, 2024, 16:30 ET

Environmental Protection Agency's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund will transform the community development finance industry for clean energy

WASHINGTON, Aug. 19, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Opportunity Finance Network (OFN) was officially awarded a grant under the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Clean Community Investment Accelerator (CCIA) program, part of the $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF). OFN's award of $2.29 billion is the largest CCIA award and the second-largest GGRF award. This historic investment demonstrates OFN's deep commitment to transforming clean energy finance by integrating it into the community development finance industry and addressing the climate crisis by increasing access to capital in underserved communities across the country.

"This is an exciting moment for the country and one that OFN and community development finance institutions are made for," said Harold Pettigrew, President and CEO of OFN. "The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund is a catalytic, once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform clean energy finance. OFN thanks the Biden-Harris Administration for placing this responsibility with community lenders and for being outstanding partners throughout the award process. We look forward to working alongside all the awardees to ensure that no community is left behind through the clean energy transition."

"With climate impacts increasingly impacting all Americans, and especially those in communities that have been historically left behind, EPA knew it had to move swiftly and deliberately to get this historic funding out the door," said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan in a press release. "Two years after he signed the law, President Biden is delivering the full $27 billion that he secured in this legislation. American families will soon feel the benefits in the form of lower energy costs and revitalized communities, while the United States leads the clean energy economy of the future."

The CCIA is a $6 billion program for national nonprofit hubs to deliver financial resources and technical assistance to build the climate lending capacity of community lenders working in low-income and underinvested communities. OFN will invest in mission-driven lenders nationwide and serve as a resource hub, providing capital, technical assistance, and market-building support.

With a long history and proven track record of investing in low-income and low-wealth communities, OFN and the CDFI industry are well-positioned to deploy this capital into the communities that need it most to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and other sources of air pollution, lower energy costs, create clean energy jobs, mobilize additional private capital, and strengthen local communities.

Since being selected for an award in the spring, OFN has focused on building tools to demystify and effectively engage with the CCIA program. Some of those tools include OFN's CCIA 101 webinar, a detailed and growing set of FAQs, and the launch of our online climate hub at climate.ofn.org. EPA's GGRF-related information and resources are available here: https://www.epa.gov/greenhouse-gas-reduction-fund

Opportunity Finance Network (OFN) is the nation's leading network and intermediary focused on community development investment, managing over $1 billion in total assets and a membership of over 420 community development financial institutions (CDFIs), which includes community development loan funds, credit unions, green banks, banks, minority depository institutions, and venture capital funds. Our network of CDFIs works to ensure communities underserved by mainstream finance have access to affordable, responsible financial products and services, with a deep focus on serving rural, urban, and Native communities across the United States. OFN is a trusted investment partner to the public, private, and philanthropic sectors – foundations, corporations, banks, government agencies, and others – and, for nearly 40 years, has helped partners invest in communities to catalyze change and create economic opportunities for all.

Since its founding in 1986, OFN members have originated over $100 billion in financing, helping to create or maintain more than 3 million jobs, start or expand more than 850,000 businesses and microenterprises, and support the development or rehabilitation of nearly 2.4 million housing units and more than 14,000 community facility projects.

SOURCE Opportunity Finance Network