The largest grant recipient under EPA’s flagship green lending program says it has lent out almost all of the money it planned to before July — but its survival depends on access to its grant funds soon.
Climate United Fund submitted answers to 35 questions from EPA on Friday, along with seven other nonprofit entities that together received $20 billion last year under the 2022 climate law’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. EPA asked the organizations to provide details on governance and operations, communications with agency staff, and plans to exercise quality control of their grants.
Climate United, which was awarded $6.97 billion last year to expand access to green finance nationwide, made its answers available to POLITICO’s E&E News. The seven other recipients declined to do so.
The balances of all eight grants have been locked in accounts at Citibank for more than a month, with award recipients unable to access funds. Climate United and two other awardees are suing EPA and Citibank to release those funds, and a federal judge is scheduled to hear arguments on their request for a near-term funding release next Wednesday.
