CGC played a crucial early stage role in the formation of the NY Green Bank, working behind the scenes before public announcements and then helping craft its initial business plans.
CGC was asked to support NYSERDA’s efforts in 2013 to build the case for the creation of the NY Green Bank as a division of NYSERDA and gain the approval of the state utility commission to invest $1 billion of public capital into the Green Bank. This included building the business and policy case, financial modelling and early product concept creation for what would be the largest US-based Green Bank.
CGC partnered with a private consultant to evaluate the existing programs offered in the state, aggregate best practices of similar finance programs from across the country, and interview nearly 100 market stakeholders in NY. CGC also created a financial model that showed how a portfolio of Green Bank products could create multiples of private sector investment leverage. When combined with public capital recycling, the model also showed that the Green Bank would have a greater total investment impact than the subsidy programs the public capital would otherwise be used for. This package of materials was presented to the utility commission, which approved the capitalization and formation of NY Green Bank. CGC and NYGB continue to coordinate on a range of topics, including the expansion of the Green Bank ecosystem.