Advancing Clean Energy Equity

Conference · Thu Jun 16 04:00:00 EDT 2022

OSTI ID:1892190

Swack, Michael ^[1]; Hangen, Eric ^[1]

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1. University of New Hampshire

This year’s Financial Innovations Roundtable (June 16-17, 2022) focused on advancing clean energy equity and was co-hosted by the University of New Hampshire's Carsey School of Public Policy and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Clean energy technologies are better than ever, with costs continuing to decline. Yet the low-income and under-resourced communities – particularly communities of color, Native communities, and other traditionally marginalized populations – that are disproportionately impacted by climate and severe weather-related events lag in clean energy investments.  Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) have a long track record of providing access to capital to low- and moderate-income communities nationwide. Green Banks, established at state and local levels, use innovative financing to attract private capital and incentivize investments in clean and renewable energy. Together, the nation's network of more than 1,300 CDFIs and 21 Green Banks have the financing expertise and deep market understanding and relationships to finance a transition to clean energy.   This event explored how Green Banks and CDFIs can funnel creditworthy projects to market and efficiently raise capital for them. Building on the Carsey School White Paper, Clean Energy Project Development for Low-Income Communities: Strengthening the Ecosystem for Delivering Solar Energy and Deep Efficiency Retrofits (Hangen, 2022), the FIR sought to identify options and create opportunities for Green Banks, CDFIs, and impact investors to collaborate in offering a range of products, approaches, and tools to better serve communities and individuals who have thus far been left out of the transition to clean energy. The event had 101 participants from a variety of sectors including CDFIs, Green Banks, mission-driven clean energy organizations, government agencies, banks, and impact investment professionals.

• Research Organization: University of New Hampshire
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
• DOE Contract Number: EE0009009
• OSTI ID: 1892190
• Resource Type: Conference proceedings
• Conference Information: 2022 Financial Innovations Roundtable, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, June 16-17, 2022
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION