EPA Opens Applications for $4.6 Billion in Climate Grants to Reduce Greenhouse Gases for States, Municipalities, Tribes and Territories

At a Glance

• The grants appear to be wide open in terms of what can be funded, as long as they reduce greenhouse gases. The grants are to be used to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in six key sectors of the economy: electricity generation, industry, transportation, building, agriculture and waste management.
• Competitive grants will be provided between $1 million to $500 million and will be based on the Primary Climate Action Plans (PCAP) that states, municipalities, tribes and territories are currently developing, and are due in spring 2024.
• Applications for states and municipalities are due April 1, 2024, and applications for tribes and territories are due May 1, 2024; informal notices of intent to apply are due by February 1, 2024, and March 1, 2024, respectively.
• EPA plans to provide award notifications and awards before the end of 2024.

On September 20, 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Air and Radiation (OAR) announced $4.6 billion in availability for grants under the Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (CPRG) program.

The CPRG program was established by Section 60114 of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).¹ The CPRG program is structured to have two parts: a planning grant phase and an implementation grant phase.

The implementation grant phase is further divided into two grant programs that are currently open:

1. General competition open to states, municipalities, tribes and territories, which provides $4.3 billion; and
2. Only tribes and territories competition, which provides $300 million.

If an applicant wins an award, the awardee will likely need to contract, subcontract or subaward funds to private companies to implement all or part of the grant activity. To note, the awardee will need to follow federal guidance such as EPA’s Subaward Policy and U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. Department of Commerce’s Good Jobs Principles.

Planning Grant Phase

EPA has provided — or is potentially providing — grants to:

• 46 states,² the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico;
• 79 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs or municipalities); and
• 94 tribes and territories (together as coalition applicants and as individual applicants).³

Previously awarded planning grants are being used to develop Primary Climate Action Plans (PCAP) and Comprehensive Climate Action Plans (CCAP). The PCAP and CCAP are used to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in six key sectors of the economy:

1. Electricity generation;
2. Industry;
3. Transportation;
4. Buildings;
5. Agriculture/natural and working lands; and
6. Waste management.

PCAPs are due March 1, 2024, for states and MSAs, and April 1, 2024, for tribes and territories. CCAPs are due in mid-2025.

Due to the timing of the PCAP and CCAP, only the PCAP will be used for developing applications for implementation grants, and only elements included in the PCAP will be funded as part of an implementation award.

Implementation Grant Phase

The implementation grant planning phase provides $4.6 billion divided between two different grant applications. The general grant competition is providing $4.3 billion and is available to all applicants. The tribes and territories grant competition provides $300 million to tribes and territories, although tribes and territories may apply to both grants. Unlike other grant programs, there are no cost-sharing or matching funds required for these grants. In addition, applicants can pair these grants with other available grant funds (e.g., Diesel Emission Reduction Act grants).

What Are the Key Dates?

Who Can Apply?

The implementation grant phase is open to states (or MSAs within states that are applicants), municipalities, tribes and territories. However, Florida, Iowa, Kentucky and South Dakota did not participate in the PCAP phase and, as such, are ineligible for implementation grants, as are municipalities located within those states, unless they are within an MSA that did receive a PCAP grant.⁴

Applicants may apply individually and/or in a combined coalition. Applicants may receive multiple grants, but no grants may overlap the same geographical area. Therefore, if an applicant chooses to submit multiple implementation grant applications, they should ensure that they do not overlap geographically.

EPA has states for which this is intended to be the only round of funding, with no additional rounds.

EPA does not plan on issuing more than two grants to applicants at the same level of government within a single jurisdiction (e.g., single state, municipality, tribal area or territory).

How Will Grants Be Evaluated?

For the general competition, EPA is providing grants from $2 million to $500 million, has divided the grant review into five tiers, and plans to select awardees within each of these tiers:

For the tribes and territories competition, EPA is providing grants from $1 million to $25 million and divided the grant review as follows:

What Are the Requirements for Awardees?

Those applicants who win awards from EPA will be required to provide semi-annual progress reports and a detailed final report within 120 calendar days of completion of the period of performance.

Construction activities will be subject to prevailing wage requirements as determined by the U.S. Department of Labor under the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts authority. Additionally, CPRG implementation grants may be subject to the Build America, Buy America provisions of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.