Environmental Finance Center Grants

The Environmental Finance Center Grant Program provides funding to support Regional and National Environmental Finance Centers (EFCs) in the following categories: 1) Regional Multi-Environmental Media EFCs, 2) Regional Water Infrastructure EFCs with Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) appropriations, and 3) National Water Infrastructure EFCs with IIJA Funding. The EFCs work with state and tribal governments, local governments, and the private sector to address the growing costs of environmental protection. The EFCs provide finance-related training, education, and analytical studies to help these regulated parties develop solutions to the difficult "how-to-pay" issues associated with meeting environmental standards. The EFCs educate state, tribal, and local governments and businesses on lowering environmental costs, increasing environmental investments, improving financial capacity, identifying appropriate revenue generating mechanisms, and evaluating environmental financing options. A central goal of the EFCs is to create sustainable systems. Sustainable systems have the financial, technical, and institutional resources and capabilities to operate in compliance with environmental requirements and in conformance with accepted environmental practices over the long term. EFCs focus on helping smaller parties find ways to obtain financing for their environmental protection responsibilities. Funding Priority - Fiscal Year 2023: Providing education, training, technical assistance, and analytic support and outreach to state, tribal and local governments and businesses (with a focus on smaller governments and businesses) on: (1) supporting cleaner/greener business through source reduction, pollution prevention, conservation, resource recovery, reuse, and recycling (sustainable materials management); (2) promoting environmentally sustainable development, redevelopment, smart growth and land use planning; green infrastructure approaches; and green building efforts by state and local governments and the private sector; (3) supporting wetlands programs and protection; (4) improving drinking water and wastewater utility water conservation, energy efficiency, management, and capital planning; (5) encouraging green jobs and green business products and services; (6) promoting innovative ways to finance and otherwise support interstate, state, regional, and local air pollution reduction efforts; (7) assisting the owners and operators of small, medium, and disadvantaged environmental systems in planning, developing, and obtaining financing for infrastructure projects; (8) developing fiscal sustainability plans for utilities that include inventories of critical assets, evaluations asset performance, energy conservation efforts, operations, maintenance and repair needs and activities, and any required certifications; (9) reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and developing decision tools and financial strategies for adaptation to adverse weather events and/or climate change.; (10) identifying, supporting and advancing environmental equity and justice concerns, where appropriate, in all training, outreach, projects, programs, and activities; and, (11) encouraging the development and use of public-private partnerships, where appropriate in providing environmental services, infrastructure, projects, and activities.

Types of Assistance: COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS;PROJECT GRANTS