Climate United Semi-Annual Report - February 2025
February 28, 2025
In April 2024, after an extensive, multi-stage selection process, Climate United was competitively awarded a contract with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s National Clean Investment Fund (NCIF) to mobilize private capital and use innovative financing to increase access to solar, electric vehicles, and green buildings. In pursuit of this mission, Climate United spent nine months in 2024 engaging communities, working with lenders and partners, designing innovative financing solutions, and deploying capital that will create quality jobs across America.
On February 28, 2025, we submitted our first semi-annual progress report to the EPA, summarizing our work through December 31, 2024.
This document is a distillation of that report to provide transparency for the public around our EPA-approved workplan to advance the goals in our contract.
Looking Ahead
In 2024, Climate United laid the foundation for significant investments in communities across the nation. We’ve established programs and partnerships in every corner of the country that will deliver historic economic benefits for hard-working Americans – from solar projects that lower energy bills and generate more American-made energy to mortgages for green homes that provide affordable monthly payments and create years of household savings.
Here are some of the exciting projects that are on the horizon in 2025:
CPC Climate Capital
Thousands of residents will benefit from healthier affordable housing thanks to CPC Climate Capital’s investments in building decarbonization. These investments help local agencies keep rent affordable for residents while increasing energy efficiency, improving indoor air quality, and lowering energy costs. CPC Climate Capital’s lending supports money-saving retrofits like modern heating and cooling systems, rooftop solar, energy-efficient windows, domestic hot water heat pumps, and improved ventilation. In the first few months of 2025, CPC plans to invest millions of dollars to support retrofits for over 500 units.
Climate United Fund
In early 2025, Climate United Fund (CUF) plans to expand solar lending, including a residential solar leasing program in 12 states and commercial and utility scale solar projects in rural and tribal communities across the U.S. Once complete, these projects are expected to save over $1B in energy costs – savings that American families can use to buy groceries or pay for medicine instead.
CUF is also working with state government and private lenders to arrange $200 million in debt capital to support energy efficiency investments in schools in low-and moderate-income rural and urban communities. The projects are expected to reduce pollution, lower energy costs, improve indoor air quality, and create jobs. These investments will also help create local resilience hubs for communities.
In January, CUF closed the first round of its NEXT pre-development grants focused on clean energy projects in Tribal communities. Of 104 applicants, 22 projects were selected representing 18 states and clean energy systems ranging from community solar and battery storage to agrivoltaics and hydro-electric power. CUF will work with these grantees over the course of the next two years to provide technical assistance and compliance support, develop workplans, and help projects become capital-ready.
Self-Help Climate Capital
In addition to the RFPs released in 2024, Self Help Climate Capital will release an RFP for the purchase of residential solar energy loans in the first half of calendar year 2025. Outside of the loan purchase strategy to support consumers, SHCC expects to close its first direct to qualified project loan to a residential solar leasing company in the first half of 2025. Further, SHCC will pursue its first balance sheet loans (subaward loans), and loan loss reserves to support community lenders with their building decarbonization, electric transportation, and renewable energy lending to consumers.
