EPA bolsters oversight to guard against IRA lapses

By Jean Chemnick | 10/25/2024 06:28 AM EDT

Congress gave the agency a tiny budget to oversee $27 billion in climate funding. EPA is trying to make up for that with bureaucratic safeguards for the grants.

The EPA logo on a door at the Environmental Protection Agency building in Washington.

EPA issued guidance that it says will help it track IRA funding. Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP

EPA released transparency and governance guardrails Wednesday for the eight nonprofits it has tasked with converting $20 billion in climate law funds into a catalyst for green investment.

These “terms and conditions” govern the National Clean Investment Fund and the Clean Communities Accelerator programs — two flagship EPA initiatives under the Inflation Reduction Act’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Program.

The 58-page document is an attempt by the agency to convert Congress’ bare-bones directions for the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund into a workable green banking initiative administered by nonprofits. Congressional Democrats were limited in the legislative language they could move through budget reconciliation — the maneuver they used to pass the IRA in 2022 over GOP opposition.

Advertisement

EPA is requiring the eight nonprofits to report extensively on the investments and transactions they make using IRA funding, as well as their own financial health. They have to comply with plans EPA approved in August, and any changes require sign-off from the agency. The nonprofits’ top brass must personally certify all expenditures, and the terms reflect the climate law’s labor and “Buy American” safeguards, as well as a prohibition on using the funds to do business with hostile countries like China and Russia. The rules apply to the nonprofits that deliver the funding and to the financial institutions and consumers that receive it.

GET FULL ACCESS