By David Clarke
After numerous previous attempts, supporters of a federal green bank hope that Congress will finally enact legislation reintroduced this year to create such an independent funding mechanism to finance a range of projects that address climate change as part of a larger clean energy and infrastructure package that will be introduced soon.
Jeffrey Schub, executive director of the nonprofit Coalition for Green Capital (CGC), whose mission is to halt climate change by accelerating clean energy technology investments, tells Climate Extra that his organization and others are very optimistic about prospects for passage of the Clean Energy and Sustainability Accelerator (CESA) bill in 2021 as momentum for the policy has gathered.
The CESA legislation was reintroduced as S. 283 Feb. 4 by Sens. Edward Markey (D-MA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM).
Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) the same day reintroduced a House companion, H.R. 806, which is co-sponsored by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), so far the only Republican supporting the legislation.
The “green bank” proposal has been endorsed by a number of organizations, including the National Academy of Sciences, Evergreen Action, the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, and Data for Progress, Schub notes.
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