Hartford, CT – The Connecticut Green Bank announced that two of its flagship financing offerings for homes and commercial buildings are expanding to include projects related to climate adaptation, resiliency, and water infrastructure.
These additions are designed to allow home- and building-owners to protect their properties against extreme weather events and potential losses from climate change. The new measures added to the Smart-E and C-PACE programs are among the first steps forward in the Green Bank’s environmental infrastructure scope expansion, which applies the green bank model of leveraging public capital to attract multiples of private investment.
“As we move into hurricane season, we are officially launching the new financing capabilities of Smart-E and C-PACE. Both programs have been serving the market for over a decade, successfully helping homeowners and businesses improve their energy efficiency and reduce energy burdens,” said Bryan Garcia, president and CEO of the Connecticut Green Bank. “Now, thanks to the Governor’s leadership and the support of the legislature, we can mobilize private investment in environmental infrastructure and resiliency.”
For non-residential properties, the C-PACE program will allow financing for projects that address the challenges caused by climate change that can have negative effects on buildings and properties. Improvements related to flood management, storm events, wind, fire, sea level rise, and extreme heat can qualify. Also, projects that embrace nature-based solutions including natural infrastructure that promote stormwater management, healthy vegetation, soils, and aquatic ecosystems that offer flood control and hazard risk reduction can be financed. Projects designed to FORTIFIED, a standard created by the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) can also access C-PACE financing.
“As the administrator of C-PACE in Connecticut, we are excited to expand the capacity of this successful program which has surpassed 400 closed projects and nearly $300 million in investment. The expansion creates new opportunities for both property owners to make improvements, and our capital provider partners who are currently able to offer this effective financing mechanism to address resilience projects,” said Mackey Dykes, vice president of financing programs at the Green Bank.
A list of participating C-PACE capital providers can be found at https://www.ctgreenbank.com/building-solutions/c-pace/find-a-capital-provider/.
