Washington, DC– The Coalition for Green Capital issued the following statement after the House Committee on Energy and Commerce completed its markup of the budget resolution; the legislative language is expected to permit the funding of a federal green bank, or Clean Energy and Sustainability Accelerator:
“We are one step closer to the Clean Energy and Sustainability Accelerator becoming a reality,” said Reed Hundt, CEO of the Coalition for Green Capital. “The Accelerator is widely recognized as a critical way to drive our transition to clean energy. The House has passed the Accelerator three times and with bipartisan support, and it is backed by climate and social justice advocates, governors on the front lines of the climate crisis and nearly 150 mayors from across the country. The Accelerator will leverage public-private partnerships to direct clean energy investments at disadvantaged communities, workforces, children afflicted by environmental harm, and consumers burdened by high costs of the existing energy platform.”
Background
President Biden included the Clean Energy Accelerator, a national green bank that would inject funding into state green banks, as a key climate provision in the American Jobs Plan. The U.S. House passed the bipartisan Accelerator as part of the INVEST in America Act (H.R. 3684), marking the third time the Accelerator has been passed by the chamber. In a July letter to congressional leaders urging action on climate infrastructure, more than 140 mayors — a group known as “Climate Mayors” — called for the creation of a national green bank. Earlier this month, 10 governors on the front lines of the climate crisis called on Congress to pass the Clean Energy & Sustainability Accelerator, because doing so would be one of “the most impactful actions to protect our climate” and environmental groups echoed that message.
The Coalition for Green Capital has been the advocate of green bank creation since its founding in 2010. Currently there are 22 green banks in 16 states and the District and 21 more green banks in the pipeline. Most recently green banks were created in Maine and Colorado. Legislation to fund them at necessary scale is pending in the House (H.R. 806, a bipartisan Clean Energy & Sustainability Accelerator introduced by Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI), Rep. Don Young (R-AK) and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and (S. 283, creating a National Climate Bank, introduced by Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey and Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen).
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