Green Banks gain ground as communities strive for climate action

Montgomery County was the first local jurisdiction in the country to set up its own green bank, in 2015, and now there are similar organizations in D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia and New Orleans. The DC Green Bank, which started signing projects in 2020, has provided nearly $1.8 million in loans for low-to-moderate-income households in Wards 4, 6 and 7 to transition to solar power and is in conversation with the city’s historically Black churches to discuss collaboration. The Climate Access Fund, based in Baltimore, works almost exclusively to bring community solar, in which multiple people share the energy produced by an off-site solar farm, to low-income households.