An important first act of the American Green Bank Consortium was the convening of the first American Green Bank Summit.
Conversations begun at the Summit have led to ongoing momentum for green bank advancements, including meeting with legislators to educate them on green banks’ track record of success, and forming a new working group to explore this potential capital source for state and local green banks.
At the event, green bank leaders built connections and shared ideas with one another, as well as with leaders from the fields of investment, philanthropy, business, and more.
Several highlights came from the federal momentum. With the National Climate Bank Act just introduced in the Senate, bill co-sponsors Senator Chris Van Hollen and Senator Ed Markey spoke to explain more about the bill and set forth their bold vision for the clean energy transition. They were introduced by Coalition for Green Capital CEO Reed Hundt, who has worked with both Senators on the green bank concept for more than a decade.
CGC CEO Reed Hunt
Senator Ed Markey
Senator Chris Van Hollen
Across the country, Green Banks have mobilized $3.67 billion in investment since 2011, drawing in more than three private dollars for each dollar they have directly invested.
Following up on the introduction of the bill, CGC Executive Director Jeff Schub discussed the launch of CGC’s comprehensive effort to mobilize stakeholders from across the country in support of the passage of federal green bank legislation, and we also heard from Ilmi Granoff at ClimateWorks and Dan Adler of the Energy Foundation as the funders of this new campaign.
In the evening, many participants headed over to the Atlantic Council for a panel discussion introducing Green Banks to a wider audience, now available on video.
Participants left the events energized for the growth of Green Banks at both the state and federal level, and inspired to collaborate further across this group of trailblazers in the field.