National Clean Investment Fund (NCIF) | EPA R HQ NCIF 23

Opportunity Information: Apply for EPA R HQ NCIF 23

The National Clean Investment Fund (NCIF) is a major federal grant competition run by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which was created by President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act. The broader Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund represents a historic $27 billion effort to push clean energy and climate solutions into every kind of community in the United States, including states and territories, Tribal lands, large cities, and rural areas. The intent is not only to cut greenhouse gas emissions, but also to improve public health, reduce household and business energy costs, create high-quality jobs, strengthen U.S. economic competitiveness, and support long-term energy security.

NCIF is the largest of three connected EPA competitions funded through this initiative. Specifically, NCIF is a $14 billion national competition focused on scaling up clean technology deployment across the country through financing. The other two related competitions are the $6 billion Clean Communities Investment Accelerator, which is aimed at financing clean technology in low-income and disadvantaged communities while also strengthening the capabilities of community lenders serving those areas, and the $7 billion Solar for All program, which focuses on expanding distributed solar in low-income and disadvantaged communities to lower energy bills. The NCIF notice of funding opportunity is specifically about the $14 billion portion and how EPA plans to select organizations to carry it out at a national level.

The core purpose of NCIF is to fund the creation or expansion of national clean financing institutions. Rather than funding individual solar arrays, building upgrades, or vehicles directly as separate grant projects, the program is designed to build large-scale nonprofit financing entities that can partner with private-sector capital and deploy flexible, affordable financing to support tens of thousands of clean technology projects nationwide. In other words, EPA is using cooperative agreements and grants to capitalize a small number of national nonprofit finance organizations so they can offer financing tools (often alongside private investment) that help projects pencil out, reach more customers, and move faster than they would through traditional markets alone.

EPA expects to make a very small number of awards under NCIF, selecting approximately 2 to 3 national nonprofit financing entities. The total funding available is up to about $14 billion, and the listed award ceiling is $13,970,000,000, which signals that a single award could be extremely large and that the winners would operate at national scale. The program is categorized as discretionary funding and falls under the environmental funding activity category, with CFDA number 66.957. Funding instruments include both grants and cooperative agreements, meaning recipients should anticipate a closer working relationship with EPA than a typical formula grant, including federal involvement in oversight, reporting, and performance tracking.

In terms of basic administrative details from the notice, the opportunity number is EPA-R-HQ-NCIF-23 and it was posted (creation date) on July 14, 2023, with an original closing date of October 12, 2023. Eligibility is listed broadly as "Others," with a note that applicants must consult the notice's "Additional Information on Eligibility" section for the exact definitions and requirements. However, the summary makes clear that the intended applicants are national nonprofit financing entities capable of operating at scale, partnering with private-sector investors, and building a durable financing platform that can reliably deliver accessible and affordable capital for clean technology deployment across the United States.

Overall, NCIF is best understood as a national clean finance backbone program: EPA is selecting a handful of large nonprofit finance leaders and providing them with massive capitalization so they can crowd in private capital and rapidly expand financing for clean technologies. The end goal is broad, measurable deployment of clean energy and related climate solutions nationwide, with benefits that extend beyond emissions reductions to include lower energy burdens, improved health outcomes, job creation, and stronger community and national economic resilience.

• The Environmental Protection Agency in the environment sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "National Clean Investment Fund (NCIF)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 66.957.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jul 14, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Oct 12, 2023. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $13,970,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 3 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for EPA R HQ NCIF 23

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