With scaled-back plans, green banks navigate Trump’s funding freeze

Green banks — organizations that use public money to make clean energy loans more affordable, especially for borrowers that regular banks consider too risky — have kept lending despite losing much of their federal funding under the Trump administration. A coalition called the Green Bank 50, covering 48 green banks nationwide, says its members put $1.4 billion of their own money plus $11 billion in private capital into more than 40,000 projects in 2024 and 2025. That included things like low-interest loans for home solar, heat pumps, and efficiency upgrades.

The bigger federal programs behind much of this work have been in limbo. The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, created by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, had offered $20 billion in green bank grants and $7 billion more through Solar for All. The Trump administration canceled both last year. Federal judges have since ruled those cancellations unlawful, but the money hasn't been released, and the administration is expected to appeal. Without it, green banks have had to lean more on private lenders, credit unions, and philanthropic funders, and take on fewer high-risk projects.

One example that kept moving: Montgomery County Green Bank in Maryland launched a $4 million program in March 2026 offering homeowners loans for rooftop solar, heat pumps, and other upgrades, with solar loans at a subsidized 2.99% rate for the first 15 years. Programs like this vary by state, so what's available near you depends on whether your state or county runs a similar green bank.