One of the nonprofits EPA jilted last year when it canceled climate funding announced last week that it had secured two small grants to fund some of its work.
The Justice Climate Fund, which in 2024 was awarded $940 million under one of EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund programs, said it received $5 million in private funding to bring renewable energy and weatherization to Native American communities. The group was also awarded a grant through a Michigan funding competition for partnering with community lenders to support clean energy in the state. The size of that award is still being negotiated, the group said.
It was one of eight nonprofits who saw their grants under EPA’s $20 billion green lending initiative frozen and then terminated by the Trump administration early last year. The Justice Climate Fund and five other groups are still challenging the termination, and an appellate court in December agreed to review their case. Oral arguments are scheduled for Feb. 24.
Amir Kirkwood, the group’s chief executive, said despite the federal funding freeze, JCF had spent 2025 helping community lenders write loans for renewable energy and electrification projects with support from the climate philanthropic group Invest in Our Future. Many of those deals were motivated by a desire to take advantage of clean energy tax credits that are set to expire, he said.
