PVG is partnering with CDFIs and credit unions to deliver federal climate funding for underserved communities.
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) represents a generational investment in CDFIs and credit unions to finance emissions-reducing and money-saving projects in your communities at an unprecedented rate.
In 2024, over $41B in funding—from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, Home Efficiency Rebates, and more than 14 other programs to support a green transition—is starting to flow to community lenders or providing tailwinds for additional lending activity. To take advantage of this opportunity, your organization needs to be ready to compete for and deploy these dollars.
Community lenders are now on the front lines of the climate fight and ensuring an equitable energy transition.
This public funding has the potential to be transformative for the often-overlooked households, small businesses, and communities you serve.
It could mean that a retired teacher can finally install a heat pump to introduce air conditioning critical for increasingly hot summers. Or it could mean giving small businesses, houses of worship, or affordable housing developments access to solar, thereby lowering energy bills and operating costs while passing greater benefits on to employees, congregants, and tenants, respectively.
We have deep, focused expertise working with CDFIs and credit unions to advance investment and equity in the communities they serve. We are excited to work with you to build new green lending products, partnerships, or strategies that are suited to your local context. We can then work with your team to bring them to life for your borrowers and members and integrate them into your existing business lines.
Case Study: Green HOPE at a glance
HOPE, comprised of Hope Enterprise Corporation (HEC), a CDFI loan fund, and Hope Federal credit union, serves under-resourced Deep South communities in five states. HOPE came to PVG to ensure it had a strategy for channeling federal resources and an equitable energy transition to its members.
PVG started by understanding HOPE’s local context, its existing product offerings, and its strengths— including its strong vehicle lending business and its leading role in delivering affordable housing through LIHTC and NMTC projects. We then held design research sessions with a sample of Hope Credit Union members, testing product concepts and learning about how different products like EVs or heat pumps could fit into their lives. We also conducted in-depth interviews with local market participants.
Alongside our qualitative research, we built financial models to estimate local bill savings, emissions impacts, and interest income from electrification and clean energy projects.
Based on our analyses, PVG prioritized a set of emissions-reducing and money-saving financial products for deployment. We then created a go-to-market plan for these priority “Green HOPE” products, which included designing market pilots, developing organizational staffing plans, and building market partners and pipelines
From “Green HOPE” to Solar for All
After HOPE engaged PVG to help build “Green HOPE,” we soon began working with the HEC team to build an application strategy for the EPA’s Solar for All competition for Arkansas and Mississippi.
HEC centered its application strategy on supporting projects that serve LMI homeowners and renters in both states.
In spring 2024, the EPA awarded HOPE more than $150M to administer the Solar for All programs in both states for which it applied, supercharging “Green HOPE” and multiplying its potential for local impact.
PVG continues working with HEC to bring these market-transforming programs and products to life.
Let’s get to work for your financial institution
With the GGRF funding awards now announced and soon to be operationalized, we can help you connect these climate funds with your market’s needs, link them with other private and public financing opportunities in your region, and design financial products that save your members and customers money while reducing emissions in your community.
PVG offers an array of services
Organizational Design and Capacity-Building
We can work with you to build new capabilities and capacity in existing lending and business development teams, improve your performance reporting, and identify education and marketing tools to realize the full potential of a robust climate investment strategy.
Partnerships and Pipeline
You can leverage our far-reaching partner networks and market knowledge to help your consumer and commercial teams build relationships, source deals, and scale a valuable pipeline of new climate investments.
Climate Finance Products
We can work with your lending and finance teams to design new financial products, estimate household cost savings and build financial models. We can then work with your team to execute on these products with funders, boards, regulators, and local leaders.
Go-to-Market Strategy
We can support you to design, prototype, and pilot new financial products, building organizational momentum to starting making an impact. We will help you identify the partners you need to get there, onboard customers, manage deal flow processes, and evaluate success.
Growing your institution with green lending
Balance Sheet Capital
Millions of dollars in capitalization grants and other forms of low- cost capital are available for CDFIs and credit unions that build expertise and project pipelines for green projects like solar or building efficiency upgrades, or launch green consumer products like EV loans.
Membership Growth
For credit unions, green strategies can attract new members by offering new consumer lending products, building new market niches and meeting growing demand for affordable and sustainable solutions to rising energy costs. Your team can then introduce these new members to everything else your institution has to offer.
Community Impact
Growing your green lending activity can not only grow revenue, it can add a new dimension to the impact you have in your community. Green lending products can create jobs, improve health outcomes, and strengthen community relationships by supporting state, municipal and philanthropic priorities.