With Federal Climate Finance in Limbo, the Power is in Our Pockets

The state of the "historic" climate finance package passed under the Joe Biden administration is uncertain at best. Incoming U.S. President Donald Trump moved to freeze the funds at the start of his term, launching a months-long legal battle that's still playing out in federal courts. Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy, a Trump appointee, deemed the freeze unlawful and ordered federal agencies to release cash already committed to financial institutions, nonprofits, and community groups to fund projects like energy-efficiency upgrades and electric vehicle charging. Less than a week later, a federal appellate court issued a temporary stay on McElroy's order, putting the flow of funds on pause once again. 

But that doesn't spell the end of climate finance in United States — not by a long shot, says Trenton Allen, CEO and founder of the financial advisory firm Sustainable Capital Advisors. 

"You can't call it once-in-a-generation and then think you're going to get it next year," Allen said of the more than $20 billion approved under the Inflation Reduction Act and bipartisan infrastructure law under Biden. "As a result, you say: Well, what did we do before?" 

In the latest episode of "What the...?," a new video series co-hosted by TriplePundit and our parent company 3BL, Allen flipped the script on the climate finance conversation — arguing that financial professionals and the public are far from powerless to push climate and clean energy projects forward. 

"Part of what we do, particularly on a finance basis, is think about how to solve the problem," he said. "The variables change. Sometimes the assumptions change. But the goal still remains: How do we make the numbers match, how do we make them balance, how do we move them forward? And we just try to keep our eyes on those things, recognizing there are things that are in our control and things that are not." 

As federal funding shifts, professionals in the space are challenged to look toward other sources, but the good news is, they already know where to find them. "In some respects, what's old is new again," Allen said. "I've been around long enough to remember when the federal funding wasn't there, when we had to think about the private capital markets as the way that projects would be financed as it relates to home energy improvements, solar projects, battery storage and the like." 

Communities and project developers are already looking toward philanthropy, private capital and municipal bond markets to pay for the projects they already have planned. "What gives me hope is that folks are working," Allen continued. "They're not retreating because there's uncertainty. They're doubling down and really moving forward in solving the problem, supporting community members, improving their lives, reducing energy burdens and improving health outcomes. All those things are still as important as they were two years ago. And so they're looking at the tools we have at our disposal." 

But climate finance isn't only the work of bankers, politicians and white-collar folks. It's everyone's business, Allen said. "We're not voiceless," he insisted. "We have agency." To help people understand their own influence on climate finance flows, Allen and Sustainable Capital Advisors launched AskSustainable.com in 2022. The database aims to educate people of all backgrounds about sustainable finance and guide them toward climate-friendly financial products. 

"When we first created AskSustainable, it was in a different environment, but we still had a tagline that I think rings true more than ever: There's change in our pockets," Allen said. "In this time when there is uncertainty, just recognize that we do have change that is in our pocket, and we have an ability to support these projects. We have enough capital within ourselves and our communities and our network to support this work. So, if we can call upon each other in our little ways, we can still move forward with the projects that reduce energy burdens, that help improve health outcomes and that reduce pollution, but also address challenges that relate to climate resiliency and changes in our climate that are impacting our most underserved communities most severely. We're not powerless. There are things we can do." 

To learn more about how leaders can reshape the climate finance narrative to invite everyone in — and how anyone regardless of background can get involved — check out the full interview here or bookmark it for later: