Credit unions can and should play an important role in implementing the new Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF), America’s Credit Unions wrote a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee Tuesday.
The GGRF is a $27 billion competitive grant program to support the capacity of community development financial institutions (CDFIs), minority depository institutions, credit unions, and others to finance cost-saving and pollution-reducing clean technology projects.
“Credit unions, by their very nature, already have in place a number of important characteristics that can help to achieve the overall goals of the GGRF by incentivizing the rapid deployment of clean energy projects and technologies to consumers, particularly those located in low-income and disadvantaged communities, and address the oversight concerns of the Subcommittee,” the association wrote. “Because credit unions are already actively involved in and have a strong presence in the communities they serve, credit unions are best equipped to quickly deploy capital for projects aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”
The letter also notes:
- The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can effectively avoid the risks of grant waste, fraud, and abuse by administering GGRF grants through credit unions, as they are regulated financial institutions subjected to a wide range of laws, rules, and regulations; and
- Credit unions have experience helping low-income, rural and underserved communities and successfully leveraging government funding and loan programs such as Small Business Administration lending, the Paycheck Protection Program, and grants available through the CDFI Fund.
America’s Credit Unions looks forward to working with the EPA on the ongoing implementation of the GGRF and its competitive grant programs to ensure that these programs achieve their intended goals.
