For Faith Communities: IRA Environmental Justice and Funding
In mid-April, the Climate Reality Project hosted a training specifically aimed at unpacking important specifics related to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). With so much funding now allocated to address the climate emergency, money and resources are flowing to the public, businesses and organizations to support a rapid transition to a clean economy. Within the larger bill package, $369 billion dollars is allocated to address energy solutions, emissions reductions and climate change resilience. A good portion is directed to address environmental justice, such as legacy pollution, contaminated drinking water, clean energy access and more.
Jennifer Granholm, US Secretary of Energy, has flipped the green power switch to ‘on.’ She offered three words at the training that just seemed to sum everything up: “deploy, deploy, deploy.” As a person of faith, I see tremendous opportunities here—opportunities for revitalization and restoration, as well as an invitation to discover what shared wellbeing could really look like. If we are intentional and hold fast to restoration and justice, we can be part of this deployment in a truly meaningful way for our communities, including ‘greening’ our lives to ensure equitable access to EV charging stations, solar panels, electric school buses, clean water and more.
This video offers notes and take-aways from the Climate Reality Power Up training and more. We look at the funding and resources coming available and what it might mean for faith communities.
There’s a lot to know, and the presentation video above is really the best place to start, as it covers what is in this article and a lot more. For this follow up, I want to pull out three things to focus on: the big projects to improve wellbeing across regions, the community-centered projects to empower local leaders, and the new mix of rebates and credits available to individual worship communities and households. All of these projects have a goal to address environmental and economic justice, with the Justice40 and other initiatives offering real guidance. More about Justice40 in the video presentation, above.
For the big projects. These projects address the need to go big, such as community renewable installations. Scale-ups also include clean-ups, such as legacy oil spills in Louisiana, which will require big support, and partnering agencies such as NOAA to fund and manage. Big projects can also look like transformational energy projects in underserved areas, such as swapping coal electricity for solar—and this is something that people of faith can support alongside local communities. Addressing climate change, air pollution, water contamination and energy costs are just some of the ways big projects can improve life and quality of life outcomes for people, as well as wildlife and living things.
“…seize these opportunities …tell everybody you know…. This is an amazing moment to be doing this work, because we now have the resources to make it happen.”
—Jennifer Granholm, US Secretary of Energy
Quote: DOE Lightning Talk, Power Up Training, Climate Reality Project, 2023. Photo: Office of Indian Energy Director Wahleah Johns and Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm visit the Navajo Nation Kayenta Solar Project in Arizona alongside Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez, Congressman Tom O’Halleran, and Navajo Tribal Utility Authority officials. Photo: USDOE by Brett Lake 2022 Government Work
Community-centered projects. I see these as potentially the most important thing for people of faith to know about. Worship communities can be partners with others. For one thing, there is almost 3 billion dollars allocated to address environmental justice and clean improvements in local communities. This money will be administered through the EPA. The EPA has a identified regional partners across the US and US territories who will serve as ‘EJ TCTACs’ for their region. EJ TCTAC means ‘Environmental Justice, Thriving Communities, Technical Assistance Center.’ The name is a little extra, but there is value to name something for exactly what it is. The function of these EJ TCTACs is to resource the local community leaders who know what is needed where they live and work, and have been awaiting the resources they need to make real change.
Each EJ TCTAC has been awarded at least 10 million in funding. The presentation video offers a lot more information about these Technical Assistance Centers, but the hope is to really build ground-up support in every region. At the training, EPA Deputy Assistant Administrator Matthew Tejada shared his hope that the EJ TCTACs would provide “fundamental capacity building support”…so communities can “get their first 501 c3 incorporated, or to write your first really good grant application,” or to help organizations and local governments “meaningfully engage” with impacted communities.
“This funding is going to allow us, for the first time ever, to really fund communities working from the bottom up: to heal their communities, to revitalize their economies, and create a much better quality of life for them, and for the generations to come…”
—Matthew Tejada, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Environmental Justice, US Environmental Protection Agency.
Quote: EPA Lightning Talk, Power Up Training, Climate Reality Project, 2023. Photo: USEPA by Eric Vance, Jackson, Mississippi, 2021. Government Work.
Faith-groups can partner, but also benefit, from these community and regional opportunities. For example, in transportation. Electric cars need a network of chargers. United Methodists in the Baltimore Washington Conference have partnered with Blink Charging to build charging stations on church properties, thereby bringing access to unserved neighborhoods and a boost of revenue to the church. Or, faith groups can support young families across the country who have rallied to bring clean school busses to every school district—this will have a direct impact on child health.
Individual and Organizational benefits. The last of my three focus areas for this article is the incentives for green-energy deployment for individual households and faith communities. Rooftop solar, community solar, and the purchase of electric appliances and vehicles has never been more important—or more accessible. There is more information in the video, above. A quick overview is that tax credits and rebates can be combined to reduce the cost of installation by up to 70% on solar (must qualify there are some rules here) and up to $40,000 on an EV church van. Again, check the rules, but the goal here is to make this accessible. Those who don’t pay taxes—such as churches or nonprofit preschools—can apply for a refund in place of the tax credit with the new Direct Pay option.
There is also green financing to help close the gap, and I want to raise up a special shout out to the UCC’s Cornerstone Fund for seeking ways to address this need. Other faith-based denominations and organizations are also looking at ways to support electrification of churches and worship communities.
A few of the folks attending the Climate Cafe Multifaith speaks to what gives them hope!
Faith communities are an important part of the effort to address climate resilience and environmental justice. Faith-based institutions and organizations have a much higher mandate still, as, according to their tradition’s teachings and tenets, those who seek higher good are healers of harm, builders of community and well-being, and advocates for the marginalized.
The IRA resources have a number of points of alignment for funding actions from the bottom up to benefit local people and communities. This is an opportunity for faith communities to stand alongside as well as lead in doing the good work of peace, justice, and restoration as part of the wider cultural effort of resilience, restoration and revitalization, as well as healing and mitigating ongoing environmental harms.
So many links! Here’s a few to get you started:
EPA (Environmental Protection Agency):
Also grant opportunities
Information on Community Solar and Community Renewables
IPL (Interfaith Power and Light): Find your state IPL affiliate to see if they are working with a solar installer or already have a solar program in place. This might be a great place to start.
UCC Cornerstone Fund: Information about creation-care green-funding possibilities, and a one-sheet creation-care investment PDF
Justice40 links:
Check the map and toolkits, learn more about Environmental Justice Areas. Use this screening map to see where environmental justice areas are present in your state/city/county. This screening map also overlays search options.
Household Information: This video featuring Leah Stokes walks homeowners and renters through the rebates and credits that will enable them to electrify their home.
In general, Rewiring America is a tremendous electrification resource. Watch their 3 minute explainer video, take their ‘what do you qualify for’ IRA savings calculator, and browse their webpage.
Rev. Richenda Fairhurst is co-founder of Faiths4Future, convenes the Climate Cafe Multifaith, and serves as Steward of Climate for Circle Faith Future. She serves on the Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon board, chairing the Creation Justice Committee and Oregon Interfaith Power and Light. Richenda is ordained in the United Methodist Tradition, and lives in Southern Oregon. Find her also on substack.
Richenda is a trained Climate Reality Leader and has also completed Center for Earth Ethics partnership Ministry Trainings at Union Seminary and the Methodist School in Ohio. These trainings are open to everyone.
Find more articles and video at the intersection of faith, climate change and climate justice on the Faiths4Future blog.
Rev. Richenda Fairhurst is here for the friendship and conversations about climate, community, and connection. She organizes the Climate Cafe Multifaith as a co-leader of Faiths4Future. Find her in real life in Southern Oregon, working as Steward of Climate with the nonprofit Circle Faith Future.