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Challenge #3: Growing Green Lending

The green roof at Farmington Hills City Hall; a roof with bright green and pink plants and a solar panel in the background
Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy

Challenge #3: Growing Green Lending

Growing Green Lending is the third grant program under the MI Healthy Climate Challenge designed to expand clean energy financing across Michigan by empowering community lenders to offer more accessible and affordable green lending options. The Challenge encourages collaborative, innovative approaches that expand access to green capital, attract additional investment, and advance an equitable clean energy transition. 

Expanding green lending in Michigan

Green lending refers to financial tools and loan products that make it easier for homeowners, businesses, nonprofits, and local governments to invest in clean energy, energy efficiency, and other climate focused projects. These loans help reduce upfront costs, enabling projects like solar installations, energy saving upgrades, electric vehicle charging, and other solutions that lower energy costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Green lending is key to helping Michigan reach its clean energy and climate goals. By making loans and financing more accessible, green lending allows homeowners, businesses, and community organizations to afford solar, energy-saving upgrades, and other solutions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lower energy bills. Expanding these tools creates a stronger market for clean energy and ensures that more communities, including low- and moderate-income households, can benefit from a cleaner, more affordable, and sustainable energy future.

Michigan with a coin sprouting a leaf

The state has already demonstrated its commitment to expanding green lending through the Michigan Climate Investment Hub. This public-private partnership between the State of Michigan, Kresge, and 5 Lakes Energy was launched in 2024 to help develop Michigan’s clean energy lending ecosystem. Today, the Hub focuses on building relationships across the state, triaging clean energy projects, and sharing resources to connect projects with financing opportunities. By bringing together community lenders, investors, nonprofits, and local governments, the Hub helps increase access to green financing and supports projects that might otherwise struggle to secure the capital they need.

The grant program builds on this work by funding strategies that expand the reach and impact of green lending across Michigan. Supported activities may include developing new loan products, strengthening lender capacity, creating partnerships to broaden financing options, and reducing barriers for low- and moderate-income households. By connecting more communities with the financing they need, the program helps make clean energy projects more affordable, increases energy savings, supports good-paying jobs, and advances equitable access to sustainable energy solutions throughout the state.

Challenge #3: Growing Green Lending Program Guide

FAQ: Growing Green Lending

Challenge #3 objectives

  1. Enhance Access to Green Capital
    Strengthen the clean energy financing ecosystem by enabling community lending institutions to increase access to financing for clean energy projects in Michigan’s communities. 
  2. Foster Innovative Partnerships and Strategies
    Encourage the development of new strategies and partnerships to strengthen community lending institutions’ ability to finance clean energy projects. This may involve creating innovative models for collaboration between financial institutions, clean energy developers, local governments, and community organizations. 
  3.  Strengthen Michigan’s Clean Energy Project Pipeline
    Support community lending institutions in expanding a robust pipeline of viable clean energy projects by investing in early-stage project development activities—including scoping, underwriting preparation, customer acquisition, and community engagement. This includes enhancing communications, marketing, and education efforts that raise public awareness, build borrower readiness, and stimulate demand for clean energy financing.  
  4. Leverage Additional Capital to Accelerate Investment
    Maximize the ability of community lending institutions to attract and deploy complementary funding from mission-driven lenders, philanthropic investors, private capital providers, and other external financing sources.  
  5. Support the Clean Energy Transition for Underserved Communities
    Prioritize projects that empower low-income and disadvantaged communities in Michigan to access the financing and resources needed to transition to a sustainable, clean energy future.

Total funding available

A total of $500,000 is available through this one-time funding opportunity. Individual grant awards are expected to range from $50,000 to $250,000, with approximately 2 to 10 grants anticipated.

Funding requests should align with the scale, complexity, and replicability of the proposed project. This program is intended to support work that enables, facilitates, or develops green lending in Michigan.

Applicants are encouraged to demonstrate how they will leverage additional funding sources, such as philanthropic grants, private financing, or in-kind support.

The State of Michigan may choose not to allocate all available funds and reserves the right to revise or reopen the application process at a later date.

Eligible uses of funds

Funds from this Challenge may be used for activities that build green lending capacity, rather than for the direct installation of individual clean energy projects.

Eligible uses focus on technical assistance, education, coordination, and tools that help lenders and communities prepare for, structure, or expand clean energy financing.

Across all eligible activities, funds must enable community lenders to finance projects based in Michigan by strengthening capacity, partnerships, or deal flow.

For more information and eligible project examples, please read the Growing Green Lending Program Guide.

Eligible applicants  

Challenge #3 is open to a wide range of organizations, not limited to financial institutions. The program supports organizations that enable, develop, or facilitate green lending for Michigan-based financial institutions. 

Partner requirement

Applicants located outside Michigan, or applicants that are not financial institutions (e.g., nonprofits, community-based organizations, municipal or public entities, or for-profit organizations), must include a Michigan-based financial institution as a partner. Applications must clearly show how the partner will actively participate in and benefit from the project.

Definition

A Michigan-based financial institution is a bank, credit union, community development financial institution, or other lending entity headquartered in Michigan.

For more information and eligible applicant examples, view the Growing Green Lending Program Guide.

Timeline 

This was a competitive, one-time funding opportunity, and applications are now closed.

Webinar and office hours

We hosted a webinar and office hours to help you understand the application process, eligibility requirements, and specific challenges. These sessions offered opportunities for direct interaction with our team, as well as answers to any specific questions asked.

Need assistance?

If you have any questions or need help at any step of the process, please don’t hesitate to contact us at EGLE-OCE@Michigan.gov.

Be sure to include “MI Healthy Climate Challenge” in the subject line to help us respond to your questions more efficiently.