Providence announces green revolving fund to decarbonize city-owned buildings
"...as we build our new green economy, it won’t be on the backs of working people," said City Councilor AnderBois. "It will be in partnership with working people in the trades and across the city.”
“To help create a cleaner, greener Providence, I am excited to announce that we are proposing today to establish the city’s first-ever Green Revolving Fund,” said Providence Mayor Brett Smiley. “The green revolving fund will be another essential strategy to help achieve our lead-by-example goals, keeping the city’s energy consumption on an affordable path and continuing to show other communities how they can do their part as well. Providence has been a leader in this space, and we will continue to be so.”
Speaking outside the Roger Williams Park Carriage House, Mayor Smiley was joined by City Councilmember Sue AnderBois, Director of Sustainability Priscilla De La Cruz, Climate Jobs Rhode Island Program Director Aislinn Hanley, and Business Manager for IBEW Local 99 Joseph Walsh, Jr.
Here’s the video:
The Green Revolving Fund would be established by a City Council Ordinance sponsored by Council President Rachel Miller and Councilmember AnderBois and signed into law by Mayor Smiley. It would commit the city to establishing a new, climate-focused fund for renewable energy and decarbonization in city-owned buildings.
“We know that our goals of addressing climate pollution, improving the quality of life for our neighbors, and transitioning to more affordable clean energy are achievable,” said Mayor Smiley. “This city will not backpedal on our efforts to reduce carbon emissions in buildings despite the federal administration that continues to roll back programs that advance the necessary deployment of new energy resources. In Providence, we are feeling the effects of climate change. In the absence of federal leadership, local government must do more to improve infrastructure and ensure we are ready to adapt to this changing climate. We are prepared to upgrade our inefficient buildings and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels for heating and cooling.”
Mayor Smiley continued:
“The Green Revolving Fund will strategically fund energy-efficiency, renewable-energy, and electrification projects across facilities and city properties. The city’s municipal buildings, school buildings, and park buildings provide ample opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, stabilize long-term operating costs, and improve the quality of our indoor and outdoor spaces.
“While these upgrades require upfront capital investment, they significantly reduce long-term energy expenses. They protect the city from volatile fossil fuel prices, which are more relevant today than ever, and lower deferred maintenance costs over time. This results in long-term savings to the city and its taxpayers. The funding in this proposed new fund will focus on energy efficiency and electrification, as well as solar installations at places like rec centers, schools, fire stations, and other city buildings.
“The funding from the ordinance will be strictly required to advance the goals set forth in our energy efficiency and carbon-neutrality goals for the municipal buildings ordinance. The incentives and tax credits from these programs will then be reinvested into the revolving fund to support the next round of investments. That is how we believe this should be done: by tying these various plans together.
“This is a point of pride for us here in Providence. We are not only great at writing plans, but we also use the plans, and we keep them alive. We have a nationally recognized climate justice, decarbonization, and capital improvement plan; we use them, and they work together. We draw on our capital improvement plan to meet our decarbonization goals, which are part of our broader climate justice plan.
“Lastly, we have developed a decarbonization roadmap. It establishes a clear pathway for phasing out fossil fuels from 130 city-owned buildings over the next 14 years. There’s a lot of conversation in the community, and it happens every time we set one of these goals, where I think there’s a lot of skepticism. You set this goal for the future. Are you really going to get there? I can tell you, I have read our decarbonization roadmap. It’s long. It’s detailed, and it is clear that this is not an aspirational goal but a target we are on track to meet, with a very clear roadmap to get there. The goal of decarbonizing the city by 2040 is within sight. We are going to get it done, and Providence will continue to lead by example.”
The establishment of the Green Revolving Fund would go hand in hand with advancing the goals outlined in the “Energy Efficiency and Carbon Neutral Goals for Municipal Buildings Ordinance.” The Ordinance marked a significant commitment by Providence to combat climate change:
22 Building electrification projects have been completed or are currently under construction. This accounts for ~1.2M square feet, or 22% of the City’s building portfolio, that has been newly built or will be updated with heat pump technology by 2028.
Energy efficiency projects and audits have impacted more than 60 buildings over the past 2 years, resulting in $3.2M in utility incentives for lighting, HVAC, and building management system upgrades.
On-Site renewable energy systems at multiple locations will be completed in 2026. Totaling 1.4 MW of installed capacity, the systems will generate 1,600 MWh of clean energy, or 5% of the electricity used by City buildings.
The City’s Building Energy Reporting Ordinance Program (BERO) confirms that energy use has decreased by 7% over the past four years in City-owned buildings.
“Two years ago, knowing we were undertaking a historic volume of construction and renovation in our municipal buildings, we passed the Carbon Neutral Buildings Act to require all municipally owned buildings to be carbon neutral by 2040,” said Councilmember AnderBois (Ward 3), the ordinance’s lead sponsor and Chair of the Special Committee on Environment and Resiliency. “Before that, we had declared the city, in partnership with the mayor, America’s first Climate Jobs City. What that meant to me, and what it means to the city, is that as we build our new green economy, it won’t be on the backs of working people; it’ll be in partnership with working people in the trades and across the city.”
Councilmember AnderBois continued:
“We will center frontline communities of color. We will center justice as we move to decarbonize our economy and our city buildings here. And we really believe in leading by example, starting with our city buildings before there’s any requirement for other places.
“We did that timing intentionally. We’re doing a historic volume of building and renovating in the City of Providence, which is so exciting. By 2040, we will have spent almost a billion dollars renovating and rebuilding our schools. Ensuring we do it right from the beginning as we make these investments is so important. We’re getting things like polluting boilers out. We’re making deep investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy. I’m so excited about the rooftop solar coming to these buildings.
“We’re going to stabilize our energy rates, save our taxpayers money, and do it while also supporting good union jobs. I was so excited to sponsor and introduce the Green Revolving Fund at our next meeting, so we can take the savings from these projects and reinvest them back into new projects.
“As Mayor Smiley mentioned, President Trump is trying to give clean energy a black eye - no good reason - he just hates it. But here in Providence, we’re supporting homegrown jobs, cleaner air, and, honestly, the future of our city... I’m excited to get this over the finish line as quickly as possible so we can make sure that we are moving forward with the awesome and voluminous plan for how we will decarbonize our city.”
“When I joined the Smiley Administration nearly three years ago, I focused our sustainability efforts on implementing our climate justice plan, which recognizes that frontline communities are affected differently by climate change,” said Director of Sustainability De La Cruz. “They’re facing a disproportionate climate pollution burden, and that’s what our climate justice plan recognized, and it put those communities on the frontline, majority communities of color, it centered their voices in that climate action plan.”
Director De La Cruz continued:
“By doubling down on cleaning up and greening up the building sector that contributes the most to climate pollution in the city of Providence, we could not only improve the quality of life for our residents and neighbors, but we could also improve our community spaces and create more local workforce opportunities, as the mayor and Councilor Anderbois have mentioned. This is the vision that guides my team in the sustainability department
“We have made significant progress towards our clean energy goals for municipal buildings. Our investments to make carbon-neutral buildings a reality in this city are producing real economic and environmental benefits. The numbers speak for themselves, and now is the time for us to push forward and show how nimble, strategic, and innovative we are as a city. That is what brings us here today, the urgency to act because the climate crisis is not pausing. Our communities deserve the level of action and leadership we’re seeing today and will continue to see in the City of Providence.”
“The city is working hand in hand with local labor unions to pass the carbon-neutral ordinance, setting a path to decarbonize all public buildings, including schools, and achieve net-zero emissions by 2040,” said Climate Jobs Rhode Island Program Director Aislinn Hanley. “By establishing a fund dedicated to investing in decarbonization projects, the city is positioning itself to address rising utility costs, build out local, low-cost energy systems, and close critical funding gaps.”
Director Hanley continued:
“Time is of the essence right now. We are all aware of what’s going on at the federal level. We need to fully capture the remaining investment tax credit while we can. The more projects we deliver now, the more savings we can reinvest into creating jobs, strengthening local energy security, and building more resilient communities. This ordinance serves as a model for cities and towns across the country, not only in establishing the fund itself but also in embedding strong worker protections alongside it.
“This initiative will create new opportunities for apprentices. It’s going to ensure high-quality contractors and jobs, and prioritize first-source hiring of Providence residents. Providence is demonstrating that we don’t have to choose between investing in energy infrastructure and supporting our workers and communities. We can, and we must do both. This is a living example of the city’s commitment to centering climate, justice, and jobs, as laid out in the Climate Jobs City Resolution.
“This is what it means to show up for our environmental justice communities by building cleaner, more efficient schools. This is what it means to bring workers along in the transition by ensuring high-quality wages and benefits. Now is not the time to backslide. The city and our state have committed to expanding local energy supply to keep the lights on without polluting our communities, and we must deliver. Providence’s Green Revolving Fund is what that promise looks like in action.
“Providence doesn’t back down when it comes to the energy future that our communities deserve. When there are challenges, we keep moving forward together because that’s what we owe to our communities and our workers... I grew up in the City of Cranston, and as part of my journey, I was always told the world’s on fire, that you guys have to figure it out. Among the younger generations, there’s a sense of dismay and hopelessness.
“What can we do? This is what you can do in action. These are the steps you can take to start tackling the challenges that we’re all facing.”
Providence’s commitment to achieving carbon neutrality in all City-owned buildings by 2040 also recognizes the importance of ensuring a just and equitable transition away from fossil fuels. Other New England municipalities, such as the Towns of Arlington and Needham in Massachusetts, as well as Vermont, have implemented similar municipal green revolving funds to accelerate investments in energy efficiency and infrastructure improvements to build long-term climate resiliency. This proposed fund will bring in additional revenue and savings for the City in the long term, while also addressing the urgency of a changing climate and the scaling back of federal programs and clean energy initiatives. This dedicated funding will help advance clean energy projects diligently, strategically, and cost-effectively.
“Investing in renewable and efficient technologies must go hand in hand with investing in people,” said International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union 99 Business Manager Joseph L. Walsh, Jr. “Dedicated funding for these projects creates real opportunities to expand union apprenticeship programs, train the next generation of skilled workers, and ensure that every job comes with strong wages, benefits, and working conditions. That’s how we build a clean energy economy that truly works for everyone, including working families.”
The City of Providence also released a clean energy plan for City buildings, the Decarbonization Roadmap, in accordance with the energy-efficiency and carbon-neutral ordinance for municipal buildings. The Roadmap evaluates cost-effective strategies to decarbonize 130 city-owned facilities by 2040 while maintaining reliable public services and supporting long-term capital planning.
