Earlier this month, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley announced a proposal to direct $3 million toward creating Providence’s first green revolving fund. If approved, the money will sponsor energy efficiency improvements in City-owned buildings and reinvest saved electricity costs in additional projects.
Green revolving funds are self-sustaining financial pools that sustain sustainability and energy projects. The fund, which would be managed by the City’s Department of Sustainability, seeks to push Providence closer to its goal of making all municipal buildings carbon-neutral by 2040.
“What makes this initiative especially significant is that it’s one of the first of its kind at this level, pairing ambitious climate goals with a real, self-sustaining funding mechanism,” Aislinn Hanley, program director at Climate Jobs Rhode Island — a group dedicated to bringing about an equitable energy transition — wrote in an email to The Herald…