The Brief: Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund awardees make their appeal

Greetings Agents of Impact! ImpactAlpha’s Erik Stein is in Mérida, Mexico, this week at the Foro Latinoamericano de Inversión de Impacto, better known as FLII (join our Wednesday gathering at the event). Dennis Price will be at the Purpose Trust Ownership Conference in Austin. ¡Mande saludos!

In today’s Brief:

• Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund awardees make their appeal 
• Catalytic commercial capital for African infrastructure
• Impact Voices: Designing and implementing “good AI”
• Podcast: New York Fed’s David Erickson on making missing markets

Featured: Deploy!

Green bank grantees press forward as appeals court weighs the fate of frozen climate funds. A year ago, the Trump administration tried to freeze $20 billion in federal “green bank” grants for projects aimed at reducing energy costs and pollution in communities in the US. A critical court hearing today by the full bench of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit could reinstate funding for the program, the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, most of which has remained frozen in Citibank accounts while the legal battle plays out. A decision is not expected for months – and could then go to the Supreme Court. Amid the ongoing litigation, Climate United and the other coalitions of community lenders have scrambled to cobble together alternative funding to move forward community infrastructure projects they insist are still viable. “The teams at each Climate United coalition partner continue to do the work we have done for decades – raising and deploying private capital to support projects and businesses that are driving a more equitable economy and clean energy future,” Calvert Impact’s Beth Bafford, who leads Climate United, told ImpactAlpha ahead of the hearing. 

• Plan B. Climate United, which was awarded nearly $7 billion to finance energy retrofits, electric school buses, community solar and other projects, is the lead plaintiff in the federal lawsuit. It is said to be raising capital to finance projects while the litigation drags on. Another GGRF awardee, the green bank network CGC, managed to allocate $2.7 billion to four big financial partners before the Environmental Protection Agency, which administers the program, froze the funds. The first deals from that tranche are expected soon. Justice Climate Fund, which was awarded $940 million to help community lenders get up to speed on green lending, is looking to raise $100 million for its Climate Opportunity and Resilience Fund.
  
• Green, affordable housing. “Current disruptions do not overshadow the market’s appetite for low-cost, sustainable capital,” writes John Moon of Local Initiatives Support Corp., or LISC, in a guest post on ImpactAlpha. The nonprofit community lender this month announced $100 million in financing over three years to support sustainable projects, on top of nearly $3 billion in annual housing grants and investments. LISC is a member of Power Forward Communities, which was awarded $2 billion from GGRF for affordable green housing projects. Outreach to developers, says Moon, has surfaced a $1 billion pipeline of projects seeking financing. LISC is partnering with green banks, solar developers, organizations such as Waverly Street Foundation and Fifth Third Bank. “It will take the continued engagement of impact investors, foundations, banks, local government, utilities and other motivated investors to enhance affordability and community wellbeing for many years to come.” Read Moon’s full post.
  
• Project pipeline. Private fundraising efforts are not likely to fill the hole left by the freezing of the federal grants, but alternative financing efforts are helping keep some local projects on track (see, “After a bruising year, climate investors look for signals of sustainable momentum”). The $50 million Energy Catalyst Fund, seeded last year by MacArthur Foundation and five family offices and managed by ImpactAssets Capital Partners, will make low-interest loans to advance green projects in low-income communities orphaned by the federal funding freeze. It is supported by a first-loss tranche from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and other funders. In an amicus brief filed in support of the GGRF plaintiffs, the National League of Cities and US Conference of Mayors warned, “Local communities are already bearing, and will continue to bear, the burden of stalled or abandoned projects to the detriment of local taxpayers.”
  
• Keep reading, “Green bank grantees press forward as appeals court weighs the fate of frozen climate funds,” by Amy Cortese.

Dealflow: Catalytic Capital

Acre Impact Capital’s export finance fund gets a boost from Swiss DFI. The Swiss Investment Fund for Emerging Markets, or SIFEM, invested $12.5 million in Acre Impact Capital’s first Export Finance Fund. Acre, a Mauritius and London-based infrastructure debt investor, is helping critical infrastructure projects in Africa get off the ground by providing catalytic commercial capital that unlocks financing from export credit agencies. Export credit agencies are often willing to finance up to 85% of infrastructure developments that facilitate the movement of goods overseas; Acre provides the remaining capital required. Acre says it is able to mobilize at least $5.60 in private capital for every dollar invested. The firm is working toward a $300 million goal for its first fund. Other LPs include Trimtab Impact, Ceniarth, Rand Merchant Bank, the European Investment Bank and FSDAi. “All of our limited partners play a catalytic role,” Acre’s Hussein Sefian told ImpactAlpha (see, “Starting with the problem, impact-first managers are returning impact investing to its roots“). Acre’s investors are supporting “a new asset class – export finance infrastructure loans – which helps demonstrate to the market that this is a viable product,” he said.

• Catalytic capital. The Swiss development finance institution backed Acre as part of a set of deals that closed at the end of 2025. It cited Acre’s focus on climate-related infrastructure for underserved populations while aiming for market-rate returns. SIFEM also invested in Circulate Capital’s second Asia fund, which invests in businesses improving plastic waste management and recycling. Lendable’s Transportation and Energy Fund provides asset-backed credit to emerging market businesses supporting electric mobility, renewable energy and climate-resilient food systems (see, “Lendable returns to asset-backed lending for the green transition”). Helios Investors’ fifth fund invests in growth-stage digital infrastructure companies, financial services companies, and tech-enabled business services in Africa.
  
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Ascent secures $45 million to expand outcomes-based student lending. The Trump administration’s sweeping overhaul of federal student loan borrowing is starting to push more higher education borrowers into the hands of private lenders, where loans can be costlier and less flexible. Ascent, a San Diego-based lender, is stepping up with loans that are friendly on interest and repayment, alongside support services that help students graduate and repay on time. Over the past decade, Ascent has deployed over $1.5 billion to hundreds of thousands of student borrowers, offering loans that don’t require a co-signer or a strong credit profile. Students are required to begin making payments nine months after graduation, and repayment is based on their yearly salaries. “A student’s potential shouldn’t be limited by their current financial circumstances, but rather fueled by their future success,” said Ascent’s Ken Ruggiero. “As federal policies shift and traditional funding gaps widen, our mission to offer financing for traditionally overlooked and underserved individuals and families has never been more important.”

• Inclusive lending. Ascent’s $45 million Series C financing round was led by an undisclosed investor. Ascent’s goal is to help increase students’ incomes by $10 billion by 2028. It lends to undergraduate and graduate school borrowers, screening them based on their earning potential upon graduation. The company also supports upskilling for healthcare workers, electrical lineworkers, welders and other skilled trade workers, and has a lending program for undocumented students under the Obama-era DACA program, who don’t qualify for federal student loans.
  
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Dealflow overflow. Investment news crossing our desks:

• Collateral Good’s Textile and Fashion Innovation Fund, which invests in circular materials, recycling and sustainable manufacturing, led a €3.5 million ($4.1 million) round for Climatex, a Swiss textile company creating reusable and biodegradable fabrics. (Climatex)
  
• Houston-based FYLD secured $41 million in Series B funding, backed by Energy Impact Partners and Partech’s growth impact fund, for software for worker safety and productivity in infrastructure field work. (FYLD)
  
• Phoenix Tailings, a green mining and metals company in Massachusetts, raised $40.2 million in Series B extension financing for a new facility in New Hampshire. (Phoenix Tailings)
  
• Sustainable aviation fuel producer LanzaJet raised $47 million in grant and equity capital, with backing from Shell, International Airlines Group and the UK Department for Transport’s Advanced Fuels Fund. (LanzaJet)

Podcast: Agents of Impact 

NY Fed’s David Erickson on making missing markets to build healthy communities (podcast). The status quo is stupid, expensive and unfair. That’s the first line of David Erickson’s 2023 book, “The Fifth Freedom,” which makes the case for good schools, well-funded libraries, safe streets and public spaces, quality healthcare, spiritual refuges and accessible transportation to help kids and communities thrive. Erickson and his team at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York have turned such ideas into Making Missing Markets, an initiative to connect the builders of health, wealth and vibrant communities with “buyers,” including hospitals, insurers and corporations, as well as government agencies, like Medicaid (for background see, “Making missing markets for local builders (and buyers) of health, wealth and vibrant communities”). He says such collaborations could finance “upstream” interventions that deliver better outcomes at far lower cost than downstream remediation. “There’s this old phrase, ‘It’s as expensive to send a kid to prison as it is to send them to Harvard,’” Erickson told ImpactAlpha’s David Bank at the Making Missing Markets gathering at the New York Fed. “That is not true. It’s three times more expensive to send a kid to prison. One chronic disease avoided – it saves the system millions of dollars.” Bank and Erickson’s onstage conversation is now available as an Agents of Impact podcast.

• Local collaboration. The fireside chat kicked off two days of talks and workshops that surfaced the range of experiments already underway. Carley Riley of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital described efforts in Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio, to convene builders and buyers around upstream health interventions, such as access to fresh food and quality affordable housing. Justice Capital’s Christina Hollenback represented community partners in Syracuse, NY, that have come together to make sure local residents benefit from regional investment and economic transformation. Other cross-sector collaborations are underway in Fairfield County, Conn., and the Adirondacks region of New York (read a summary of the event by the Fed’s Julian Macrone). Bridgespan and the New York Fed are working together to compile a “what works” book on the Making Missing Markets initiative.
  
• Keep reading and listen in to the podcast. Get the podcast in your feed by subscribing on Apple, Spotify or YouTube.

Agents of Impact: Follow the Talent

David Doyon, previously with Integrity Community Solutions, becomes chief financial officer at Hawaii Community Lending… Ingeborg Investments promotes Mira Kaufman to vice president of investments… Imran Solomons is promoted to fund operations managers at Ninety One… Monarch Investment Partners welcomes Kelly Cornelis as a strategic advisor… Winrock International is on the hunt for a sustainability services senior analyst. 

Arnold Impact Investing seeks a social media marketing specialist… The Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy is hiring a deputy to the vice president of energy finance and structuring… Artha Networks is hiring a climate finance consultant… Canada Infrastructure Bank is hiring an impact measurement and evaluation manager in Toronto.

The Open Library on Green Economy is on the hunt for a sustainability expert contributor in the Netherlands… FMO seeks a business development officer… Impact Fund Denmark is recruiting a data engineer… IIX is looking for an assistant vice president of impact and ESG data analytics in Indonesia… Root Capital seeks a partnerships account associate in Latin America.

👉 View (or post) impact investing jobs on ImpactAlpha’s Career Hub.

Thank you for your impact!

– Feb. 24, 2026