A federal agency that boosts small businesses is making a major revision to help finance projects that reduce planet-warming emissions and improve energy efficiency.
The Small Business Administration said it will guarantee loans made by nonprofit lenders of up to $2 million for climate-related projects — an increase from the current $350,000 limit.
The “Green Lender Initiative” announced Monday aims to “fund the small business clean-energy transition,” SBA Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman said in a statement. “Small businesses and homes account for more than one-third of U.S. emissions, so it is vital that they are part of the solution.”
The higher guarantee limit, which applies to nonprofit lenders participating in SBA’s largest loan program, aims to enable lenders to finance larger and more expensive emissions-reducing projects such as retrofitting a manufacturing facility to be more efficient.