The Clean Energy Future Blog

By Coalition for Green Capital

Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-12) and co-sponsors today made a critical move in the battle against climate change by introducing the National Climate Bank Act of 2019. The National Climate Bank created by the bill will use public capital to stimulate private investment in a range of projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and accelerate the nation’s clean energy transition. It will be funded with $35 billion over six years, which will mobilize a massive wave of up to $1 trillion in private investment. The bill is a companion to the one introduced in the Senate this summer by Senators Markey, Van Hollen, Schatz and Blumenthal. The bill is also informed by the Green Bank Act of 2019, introduced by Sen. Murphy and Rep. Himes.

The National Climate Bank will be formed as a nonpartisan non-profit, and will ensure a fair and equitable transition by financing projects that keep energy prices the same or lower. It will prioritize investments in frontline communities, environmental justice communities, and those suffering economic impacts from the clean energy transition. This makes the National Climate Bank an integral part of any comprehensive approach to push the economy towards clean energy.

Reed Hundt, CEO of the Coalition for Green Capital said: “Congresswoman Dingell like her husband before her has been a leader for years in the battle against climate change. Her introduction of this bill is a landmark event with historic significance for which I personally am thankful. The National Climate Bank takes a proven, successful model and scales it up to the level that’s required to meaningfully battle climate change: trillions rather than billions of dollars.”

The Climate Bank relies on the methods already proven by state and local Green Banks across the U.S, which have driven over $3.6 billion of total investments. Climate Bank financing will attract private co-investment, making public funds go farther. It will invest in renewable power, transmission, storage, micro-grids, transportation, industrial decarbonization, building efficiency, forestry and agriculture. It will also help form additional state and local Green Banks, and provide capital to the entire network of Green Banks to support clean energy investment in local communities.

“To properly tackle climate change an aggressive agenda is required that addresses all fronts of the crisis. To get to a fully clean economy, we need comprehensive efforts to innovate in economy, technology, and society. Establishing a National Climate Bank will serve as an important implementation tool to achieve this goal by publicly financing and stimulating private investments in clean, renewable energy projects, clean transportation, and support communities most effected by climate change,” said Dingell. “The National Climate Bank Act builds on the successful Green Bank example in Michigan, and mobilizes investment directly into the greenhouse gas emissions reduction projects most in need of capital. The expansion of these projects will create good jobs, a strong future workforce, and deliver a clean economy that works for communities in Michigan and across the country.”

CGC has supported federal action on Green Banks since 2009 when the House voted to form the Clean Energy Deployment Administration (CEDA) with bipartisan support. Rep. John Dingell, the late husband of Rep. Debbie Dingell, championed that effort as well, introducing CEDA in the Energy & Commerce Committee as an amendment to the national cap-and-trade bill. Today CGC is the leading expert on Green Banks, and operates the American Green Bank Consortium as a membership organization for Green Banks to collaborate.

Mary Templeton, President and CEO of Michigan Saves, said: “As a member of the American Green Bank Consortium, Michigan Saves is proud to stand with CGC and with Congresswoman Dingell in support of the green bank approach. Michigan Saves has enabled more than $200 million in public and private investment, with the average household participating in a Michigan Saves program saving over $1,200 on their gas and electric bills.”

For more information on the National Climate Bank Act, see:

• Congresswoman Dingell’s release, one-page bill summary, and full bill text.
• CGC white paper “Mobilizing $1 Trillion towards Climate Action: An Analysis of the National Climate Bank Act.”
• Further links and resources on the National Climate Bank micro-site.

For more information on the track record of existing US Green Banks, see the American Green Bank Consortium’s Annual Industry Report.

ABOUT CGC
The Coalition for Green Capital (CGC) is a non-profit organization focused on accelerating the growth of clean energy markets through the creation of Green Banks, and offers a unique and proven capacity as a leading creator, advocate, and expert on Green Banks since 2009. CGC works directly to support the formation of Green Banks with governmental and civil society partners, and provides on-going consulting and guidance to operating Green Banks. For more information visit coalitionforgreencapital.com/.

CONTACT

Nora Vogel
Director of Communications
646-494-8258
nora@cgcstagingsite.wpengine.com

By Coalition for Green Capital

MADRID, SPAIN (Dec. 11, 2019) – As pressure builds for stronger country-level action to curb climate change, nine countries and partners are demonstrating that leadership at the COP25 climate conference by announcing progress towards creating green banks, which attract private financing for clean energy and low-carbon development.

The countries spotlighted their advances today at a COP25 event, “Green Banks for Country-Driven Climate Finance: Showcasing Country Ambition.” And they are not alone – 35 countries and jurisdictions now are exploring the use of green banks, compared to 12 just a couple years ago.

Green banks finance a broad array of projects such as large-scale offshore wind, small-scale solar, low-carbon transport, building energy efficiency and LED street lighting.

“Climate change must be addressed with bold actions to deploy new technologies rapidly and at scale,” said Prof. Anthony Nyong, Director of Climate Change and Green Growth at the African Development Bank (AfDB). “To this end, AfDB, with support from the Climate Investment Funds, is working with the Coalition for Green Capital to explore how Green Banks and National Climate Change Funds can raise and deploy blended capital to finance local climate infrastructure while also driving an increase in private investment.”

Similar progress was highlighted at today’s event. Representatives from Mongolia’s Ministry of Environment and Tourism discussed building the Mongolian Green Finance Corporation; the Indian Renewable Energy and Development Agency announced it is providing an initial investment to launch a fund supporting India’s ambitious goal of installing 450 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2030; and Rwanda outlined plans to set up a new Rwanda Catalytic Green Investment Bank to mobilize private investment in Rwanda and serve as a hub for other African nations.

In addition, officials from New Zealand described efforts to enable success of New Zealand’s new green bank. Other officials from Portugal, Peru, Spain, and Latin America shared their advances in green banking.

“Mongolia has taken flight in accelerating its efforts towards the Paris Agreement, the latest contribution of which can be seen by the newly updated Nationally Determined Contributions reflecting more audacious ambitions,” said Naidalaa Badrakh, CEO of the Mongolian Bankers Association and one of the representatives featured at the event.

“To meet the financing needs of this robust climate and social agenda, the public and private sector actively collaborates to create a 50 million USD national green financing vehicle, the Mongolian Green Finance Corporation, with seed funding from the Green Climate Fund,” Badrakh added. “The project has already led to growth in green businesses and realization for the need of green capacity building in all sectors and industries. [We] believe the next Green Climate Fund’s Board decision will see to reality a private-public partnership based future Green Bank that will unlock great green market potentials and achieve Mongolia’s green and sustainability goals.”

Creating institutions dedicated to financing green projects is a key way for countries to raise capital needed for projects that curb climate change and create clean energy economies. “We’ve been surprised and heartened to see the rapidly growing number of countries pursuing national green banks as a key strategy to mobilize climate finance for Paris Agreement targets,” said Paul Bodnar, Managing Director at Rocky Mountain Institute.

The statement made by Chintan Shah, Technical Director of Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency demonstrated the level of India’s ambition. “As India moves towards becoming a USD 5 trillion economy, the country’s aim to achieve the 450 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy could be a driver of this economic growth. To support this effort, the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency has announced the creation of a new Green Window at IREDA – which is a catalytic finance facility based on the green bank model – to mobilize private finance to expand renewable energy in India.”

Worldwide, countries need to invest an estimated $1.6 trillion to $3.8 trillion annually through 2050 in low-carbon development to meet the Paris goal to limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius. Innovative tools like green banks help countries catalyze public and private investment for sustainable development.

The COP25 event was convened by the Green Bank Design Platform, a global collaboration to accelerate green bank formation. It was hosted by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Natural Resources Defense Council, Coalition for Green Capital, and Rocky Mountain Institute.

Doug Sims, Director of NRDC’s Green Finance Center said: “Around the world, on every continent, green banks are on the rise. Some are private, some are public, some are independent, others are specialized teams embedded in larger organizations. The model is evolving to suit local conditions in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, the US and Europe. What is critical and what is common, is that these institutions are pure-play green and dedicated to providing the right capital for spurring the uptake of innovative, low-carbon technologies and business models and drawing slower-moving mainstream capital off of the sidelines and onto the field of green, inclusive growth.”

The following statements address additional green bank developments at the COP25 event:

Hubert Ruzibiza, CEO of FONERWA in Rwanda, said: “The Rwanda Green Fund is working with the Coalition for Green Capital to develop a Catalytic Green Investment Fund. The fund will complement existing instruments to unlock and expand private investment in Rwanda’s green growth. The catalytic approach aims to utilize public investment to attract private investment by reducing risk and addressing other market barriers. We are excited about the potential of the fund as we strive to build a green Rwanda.”

Andrea Colnes of the Coalition for Green Capital, said: “Green Banks have tremendous potential to scale-up private investment in support of national climate goals. Emerging Green Banks in Rwanda, Southern Africa and elsewhere around the globe illustrate the applicability of this model in developing countries.”

Juan Antonio Ketterer, Division Chief, Connectivity, Markets and Finance Division, Inter-American Development Bank, said: “Addressing climate change requires innovative financial solutions to scale up private investments – at IDB we have been pioneering such solutions with public banks and financial institutions, conveying programs of USD 3 billion in the last 5 years. We are pleased to host the Green Bank Design Platform forum in Madrid, and we are looking forward to continuing working together on building sustainable capital markets across the region.”

Eduardo Brunette, Greenward Partners, Spain said: “The inaugural gathering exploring the potential for a Green Bank in Spain, was a great success. The session was convened at the Instituto de Crédito Oficial in Madrid where leaders in climate finance showcased the international experiences of Green Banks as a powerful model for Spain to drive and leverage private climate investment.”

John McGinley, Managing Partner, Mekong Strategic Partners, said that that the U.S. Agency for International Development, “through its flagship climate finance program for Asia, USAID Green Invest Asia is pleased to announce that it has decided to invest into supporting the development and launch of a catalytic Green Bank / Financing Institution for Cambodia.”

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The Coalition for Green Capital (CGC) is a non-profit organization focused on accelerating the growth of clean energy markets through the creation of Green Banks, and offers a unique and proven capacity as a leading creator, advocate, and expert on Green Banks since 2009. CGC works directly to support the formation of Green Banks with governmental and civil society partners, and provides on-going consulting and guidance to operating Green Banks. For more information visit coalitionforgreencapital.com/.

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have worked to protect the world’s natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Bozeman, MT, and Beijing. Visit us at NRDC.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC.​

Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI)—an independent nonprofit founded in 1982—transforms global energy use to create a clean, prosperous, and secure low-carbon future. It engages businesses, communities, institutions, and entrepreneurs to accelerate the adoption of market-based solutions that cost-effectively shift from fossil fuels to efficiency and renewables. RMI has offices in Basalt and Boulder, Colorado; New York City; the San Francisco Bay Area; Washington, D.C.; and Beijing. Find us at RMI.org and follow us on Twitter @RockyMtnInst.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Nora Vogel
nora@cgcstagingsite.wpengine.com, 646-494-8258

Jake Thompson
jthompson@nrdc.org, 301-602-3627

Elizabeth Heyd
eheyd@nrdc.org, 202-289-2424

By Coalition for Green Capital

A new story in Foresight Climate and Energy takes a look at the global proliferation of green banks, and explores different models including that of the now-privatized UK Green Investment Group. It includes insights from CGC International Director Andrea Colnes.

The piece emphasizes the growing reach and impact of these institutions:

Targeted green investment banking is reaching scale. In September 2019, the nine members of the Green Bank Network announced they had committed almost $15 billion of predominantly public capital to mobilise a total of $50 billion towards the low-carbon transition. With a range of different business models and funding structures, green banks are playing an increasingly prominent role in financing the low-carbon transition and numerous jurisdictions around the world are mulling launching their own green finance institutions.

It also discusses different ways that green banks can be established and designed. Many green banks are capitalized with public funds, and (although the article does not mention this variation) some can also be funded with philanthropic capital. These institutions can be quasi-public, nonprofit, or private.

In the case of the UK’s green bank, it was established with public funds but was later privatized. The decision gave the private institution more freedom in some ways, but also carried drawbacks which CGC’s Andrea Colnes discusses:

“The primary value-add of green banks in the climate finance architecture is to address gaps in the market and create financial strategies to crowd in and expand private investment by absorbing risk,” she says. “While private green banks can lead the market and demonstrate the viability of green investments, their need for commercial returns would likely limit their ability to fulfill this type of catalytic role,” she adds.

See the full article for more on the ways that green banks drive clean energy investment, and the different examples that exist globally. For an even deeper dive into the forms that these institutions can take, see CGC’s recent white paper on the nonprofit model for green bank design.

By Coalition for Green Capital

A great new story in PV Magazine takes an in-depth look at legislative leadership from Rep. Debbie Dingell and Sens. Ed Markey and Chris Van Hollen to create a National Climate Bank.

“The arrival of a National Climate Bank would be a boon for developers, installers, contractors and panel manufacturers because it would pry open business opportunities in new markets and geographies.”

CGC Executive Director Jeffrey Schub and Connecticut Green Bank President and CEO Bryan Garcia are interviewed in the piece, further discussing the success of the green bank model.

Check out full piece in PV Magazine.

By Coalition for Green Capital

A strong new op-ed in Spanish newspaper El Mundo by energy financier Eduardo Brunet of Greenward Partners explains why Spain needs a green bank to “accelerate the impact of limited public funds and serve to channel private investment.”

Spanish speakers can check out the full piece in El Mundo here.

CGC International Director Andrea Colnes will be continuing the conversation at COP25 in Madrid, at an event focused on the potential for a Green Bank in Spain moderated by Mr. Eduardo Brunet: “Green Banks: Successful Model for Climate Change Financing.” Register here!

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¿Un banco verde para España? Andrea Colnes de CGC discutirá en la COP 25

Excelente tribuna en El Mundo hoy, escrito por Eduardo Brunet de Greenward Partners, sobre la importancia de crear un Banco Verde en España para “acelerar el impacto de los limitados fondos públicos y, sobre todo, servir como canalizadores de la inversión privada.”

Ver el artículo completo en El Mundo aquí.

Andrea Colnes, International Director de CGC seguirá la conversación durante COP25 en Madrid, en un evento enfocado en la potencial de crear un banco verde en España, moderado por Eduardo Brunet de Greenward Partners: ‘Bancos verdes: Modelo de éxito en la financiación de cambio climático.’ Inscríbase aquí.

By Coalition for Green Capital

An in-depth new story from Utility Dive discusses how green banks and green bonds can be complementary forces driving the transition to clean energy, quoting CGC Executive Director Jeff Schub.

“Green bonds are a capital-raising mechanism that a wide range of institutions could use to raise capital,” Coalition for Green Capital Executive Director Jeff Schub told Utility Dive. “A green bank is an institution [capitalized by public funds] that invests capital in clean energy projects. [They] are complementary, capital raising and capital deploying.”

Together, they can attract hundreds of billions in institutional and financial market money to fund utility investments in large-scale renewables and public sector investments in local distributed generation. They can also work together to support utility transitions away from high-cost legacy generation to lower-cost “green” generation, stakeholders told Utility Dive.

The piece draws on the example set by established green banks, and explores how a National Climate Bank could support these institutions while also investing directly in clean energy projects. By leveraging private investment and recycling capital, a National Climate Bank could turn billions of dollars in federal funds into trillions invested in clean energy projects.

For more, see the full story by Herman Trabish at Utility Dive.