WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Friday announced $20 billion in investments to help fund clean energy projects such as installing electric vehicle charging stations, retrofitting homes to make them energy efficient and supplying to communities with a backup battery.
The investment, spread over two grant competitions, is intended to help communities that have faced historic underinvestment, senior administration officials said.
Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to tout the announcement this afternoon during a speech at Coppin State University in Baltimore, a historically black university, alongside Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan and members of Congress.
“The President and I have set ambitious goals to halve our greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and achieve net zero emissions by 2050. The investments announced today are helping our country achieve these goals and to deliver a cleaner, healthier future for generations to come,” he added. Harris said in a press release.
The two competitions, the National Clean Investment Fund and the Clean Communities Investment Accelerator, will allocate $14 billion and $6 billion respectively to the projects. The funding is part of the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, an investment funded by last year’s Cut Inflation Act, a senior administration official said.
Both competitions will focus funding on low-income and disadvantaged communities, including rural and tribal communities and those concerned about environmental justice, the White House said. At least 40% of the funds from the $14 billion contest and all of the funds from the $6 billion contest will go to those communities, according to the White House.
Applications are due Oct. 12, with the goal of making selection decisions by March 2024 to allow recipients to start working on projects as early as July 2024, a senior administration official said. The EPA will host public webinars on the competitions in the coming weeks.
Prior to the announcement, Harris and Regan will be briefed by local climate leaders.
Harris’ remarks cap the Biden administration’s Invest in America Tour, a week-long blitz by senior administration officials who traveled across the country touting the president’s economic agenda.
This article originally appeared on NBCNews.com