Environmental Finance Center Grants

The Environmental Finance Center Grant Program provides funding to support Regional and National Environmental Finance Centers (EFCs) in the following categories: 1) Regional Multi-Environmental Media EFCs, 2) Regional Water Infrastructure EFCs with Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) appropriations, and 3) National Water Infrastructure EFCs with IIJA appropriations. The EFCs work with state and tribal governments, local governments, and the private sector to address the growing costs of environmental protection. The EFCs provide finance-related training, education, and analytical studies to help these regulated parties develop solutions to the difficult "how-to-pay" issues associated with meeting environmental standards. The EFCs educate state, tribal, and local governments and businesses on lowering environmental costs, increasing environmental investments, improving financial capacity, identifying appropriate revenue generating mechanisms, and evaluating environmental financing options. EFCs focus on helping smaller parties find ways to obtain financing for their environmental protection responsibilities. In FY 2026, the EFCs will continue providing education, training, technical assistance, and analytic support and outreach to state, tribal and local governments and businesses (with a focus on smaller governments and businesses) on: (1) supporting source reduction, pollution prevention, conservation, resource recovery, reuse, and recycling (sustainable materials management) (2) promoting efficient environmental development, redevelopment, economic development and land use planning financial planning for state and local governments and the private sector; (3) supporting wetlands programs and protection; (4) improving drinking water and wastewater utility water conservation, energy efficiency, management, and capital planning; (5) encouraging environmental jobs and environmental business products and services; (6) promoting innovative ways to finance and otherwise support interstate, state, regional, and local pollution reduction efforts; (7) assisting the owners and operators of small, medium, rural, tribal and under-resourced environmental systems in planning, developing, and obtaining financing for infrastructure projects; (8) developing fiscal planning for utilities that include inventories of critical assets, evaluations of asset performance, energy conservation efforts, operations, maintenance and repair needs and activities, and any required certifications; (9)developing decision tools and financial strategies for adaptation to adverse weather events; and, (10) encouraging the development and use of public-private partnerships, where appropriate in providing environmental services, infrastructure, projects, and activities.

Assistance under this program is available to public and private non-profit universities and colleges and to nonprofit organizations. For certain competitive funding opportunities under this assistance listing, the Agency may limit eligibility to compete to a number or subset of eligible applicants consistent with the Agency’s Assistance Agreement Competition Policy.

States, tribes, local governments, businesses and community organizations and the general public are the beneficiaries of this program.

For competitive awards, EPA will review and evaluate applications in accordance with the terms, conditions, and criteria stated in the Notice of Funding Opportunity. Competitions will be conducted in accordance with EPA policies/regulations for competing assistance agreements.