Portland’s billion-dollar climate action fund is sending $300 million to eight large-scale projects over the next five years.
On Wednesday, Portland City Council unanimously approved the Collaborating For Climate Action grants as part of the Portland Clean Energy Fund. The funded projects aim to reduce carbon emissions by boosting energy-efficient installations and creating more renewable energy while also improving homes and creating jobs.
The Collaborating For Climate Action grants are part of the recently updated Climate Investment Plan, which will spend more than $1.5 billion toward climate action over the next five years. Wednesday’s vote is the last vote in what was a yearlong series of decisions and changes to Portland Clean Energy Fund.
As higher-than-expected tax collections led to a doubling of the fund’s budget to more than a billion dollars, PCEF has now allocated more than $740 million to city bureaus, roughly half of its overall spending, some of that through the Collaborating For Climate Action grants.
Portland City Hall, Nov. 15, 2024.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
“What we’re voting on today is our truly transformative projects for our city,” Commissioner Carmen Rubio said, ahead of the last City Council vote on PCEF funding of the year. “And we’re investing, not only in climate resilience for the schools and industry and transportation and economic development in all of our communities, we’re really also investing in our own futures and the future generation.”
PCEF received more than 50 letters of interest seeking more than $2.4 billion in funding through the grant program. The projects ultimately awarded grant funds Wednesday are either led by nonprofit organizations or city bureaus, and involve partners from both the private and public sector.
The eight projects approved:
- Energy Trust of Oregon will receive nearly $25 million for the Portland Solar for All projects. The project aims to install rooftop solar and battery storage capacity for about 2,700 low-income Portland households. It will also expand local solar workforce development.
- Bonneville Environmental Foundation’s Empowering PDX will build community solar projects aimed at helping more than 1,500 Portland residents of color and low-income residents lower their energy bills. The organization will receive about $31.5 million.
- Multnomah Education Service District will receive more than $70 million for the City-Wide Schools investing in Climate Resilience project. Six school districts — Centennial, David Douglas, Parkrose, Multnomah ESD, Portland Public Schools, and Reynolds — are slated for a range of energy efficient improvements including Heating, Ventilation and air conditioning installations, LED lighting to schoolyard projects.
- Prosper Portland, the city’s economic development office, will receive $36 million to build 230 net-zero energy multi-housing units as part of its Broadway Corridor – Phase 1 project. The building is part of the revamping of the former United States Postal Service site in Northwest Portland. The funds will also include workforce development.
- Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability will receive $20 million for the Clean Industry Community Program. The program’s goal is to reduce emissions from large facilities and industrial businesses throughout Portland and boost energy efficiency and renewable energy options within their operations. The bureau said it will work with a handful of partners, including Portland State University, Neighbors for Clean Air, and Energy 350, to identify where to invest funds.
- Portland Bureau of Fleet and Facilities will receive $41 million to decarbonize and upgrade the city’s largest municipal fleet vehicles. The bureau will also work with Portland Community College to provide education in building energy management and electric vehicle maintenance.
- TriMet will receive $55.5 million for the 82nd Avenue Transit Project. The funds will allow more frequent Bus Rapid Transit service, increase workforce development and tree planting along seven miles of the corridor to reduce the urban heat island effect.
- Portland Bureau of Transportation will receive $20.5 million for the Sidewalk to Schools project. The funds will help create tree-lined sidewalks near schools in East Portland.
“We are collectively acting at the speed of climate change – which is now – while creating lasting improvements in schools, homes, jobs, and our city’s infrastructure, starting with communities that have historically been left behind,” PCEF manager Sam Baraso said in a statement.
During Wednesday’s City Council meeting, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler acknowledged this would be the last time leaders of Portland’s current form of city government would vote on the Portland Clean Energy Fund.
“It’s a privilege watching the Portland Clean Energy Fund from what was originally, to be blunt, something of a far-fetched dream on the part of a few people in the community that really saw a vision and had the wherewithal to lead that visions to reality,” he said during council vote.
Wheeler said the fund has hit an important “nexus point.” Projects approved by council this year will bring more renewable energy projects, jobs and a focus on climate resilience, particularly for “communities that have historically been left out of some of the opportunities around job growth in our community,” he said.
“Here we are closing out this year, closing out this council with an opportunity to leverage partnerships with both small community groups as well as large and important institutional partners to deliver benefits at the street level throughout our community,” he said. “That is a rare opportunity.”
Wheeler also called on the next mayor and council, who will be sworn in Thursday, to find a champion to continue to lead the fund like Commissioner Rubio did. She oversaw PCEF, and her team led the creation of its Climate Investment plan and identified opportunities to allocate climate funds to city bureaus.
“Somebody will need to step into that role and be champion and advocate and be accountable and be as willing as Commissioner Rubio was, to listen to all sides of the complex issue and try and find that important nexus point,” Wheeler said. “...It’s important that we all continue to provide the same kind of leadership that this program has benefited from for the last couple of years.”
All eight grantees will be required to execute a community benefits agreement before the funds could be distributed to them. A community benefits agreement is a contract between the grantee or developer with a community group or groups that outline the benefits, like hiring from local unions to commit to building affordable housing, the project or developer will provide in exchange for community support.
Once those community benefit agreements are executed, the projects are required to be completed by the end of 2029.
Despite unanimous approval from City Council, some members of the PCEF Committee called for more information from the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability about the Clean Industry Community Program.
During last week’s PCEF committee meeting, presentations by recipients of all eight project proposals were heard by the committee members. But each group was given a limited amount of time to present and committee members were allowed to ask no more than two questions per proposal.
PCEF Committee Co-chair Megan Horst asked if there could be more information shared about the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability’s project.
“It’s a very unusual [application] and the concept is not fully developed so it’s more of a planning project really and it’s a lot of money to put in a planning project,” she said. “The budget provided showed a lot of money going to one industry and some community colleges.”
Another member, Robin Wang, called out the “rushed nature of this process” as the committee deliberated $300 million. Wang repeated his calls for an improved process for these kinds of grants.
But Wang said he was pleased to see the project proposals and the benefits each will bring to the community.
