Press Release: Sept. 19, 2019.
The Coalition for Green Capital (CGC) today released two new white papers illustrating how a National Climate Bank could directly invest across economic sectors in large and utility-scale projects, while also providing capital to state and local Green Banks across the country. Taken together, these investments could make significant progress towards economy-wide decarbonization.
The structure of the proposed National Climate Bank is based on the National Climate Bank Act introduced in July by Senators Ed Markey and Chris Van Hollen. The bill establishes an independent nonprofit institution with the goal of maximizing greenhouse gas reductions per public dollar, which would be capitalized with public funds and be chartered to operate for 30 years.
Previous analysis from CGC found that the Climate Bank could mobilize up to $1 trillion in total investment impact if capitalized with $35 billion in public funds, making the Climate Bank a powerful and cost-effective policy tool.
CGC’s latest reports qualitatively explore how the proposed Climate Bank could engage in each economic sector, providing examples drawn from existing trends and efforts. The reports also explore the mechanisms by which the Climate Bank could capitalize state and local Green Banks, and provide technical assistance to establish new sub-national institutions where they don’t currently exist. Existing state and local Green Banks are already making significant progress in mobilizing investment into local clean energy projects, and are particularly mobilizing investment into under-served communities which have in the past been excluded from these benefits.
The reports are part of a series from CGC which will analyze the potential impact of a National Climate Bank, providing details, context, and recommendations on its workings.
Jeffrey Schub, Executive Director at CGC, said: “Transitioning to a fully clean energy economy will require investments in many sectors, and the flexibility of the Climate Bank to engage in a wide range of project types is one of its great strengths as a policy tool. Support for state and local Green Banks will also provide important value, as these institutions bring deep knowledge of local markets and conditions. They are rooted in local communities and their investments can give an economic boost to vulnerable residents.”
The full white papers are available here:
For more information: