The United States government revealed on Thursday that it had selected 11 organisations from across the country to distribute $550 million in grants to underprivileged communities for lowering legacy pollution and gaining access to renewable energy.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will fund organisations that will act as grantmakers for its new Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmaking programme, which will invest in community-led projects in areas that have historically been overburdened by air and water pollution. These organisations could include sizable non-profit organizations, tribal nations, and universities.
The funds are a portion of the $3 billion authorized by Congress for environmental justice block grants included in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a piece of landmark legislation signed by President Biden that will encourage investments of almost $369 billion in clean energy and climate priorities.
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Robin Morris Collin, senior advisor for environmental justice at the EPA, said in an interview that “The money that we have been entrusted with is more than triage. It is more than fixing a small problem. The scale and the vision of this investment that Congress has given us will change these communities.”
The programme will assist the Biden administration in achieving its objective of providing 40% of the overall benefits of federal climate investments to underserved and underprivileged communities that have had a difficult time receiving federal assistance.
The block grant programme is one of several investments the IRA made focused on environmental and climate justice.
Story was adapted from Climate Home News
