A roadmap can provide directions but doesn’t get you to your destination.
So it is with Michigan’s MI Healthy Climate Plan (MHCP) and related climate action goals: They point the way to a prosperous, sustainable, carbon-neutral future benefitting all Michiganders, but the actual journey requires fuel – not the fossil kind, but in the form of investment.
Grant pools, policy proposals, and good intentions are important but not always sufficient. This is where climate finance and lending enter the picture.
What is climate finance?
Sometimes known as green lending, climate finance is public, private, and philanthropic funding for projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase resilience, lower energy costs, and expand equitable access to clean energy. It bridges the gaps between ambition and implementation with dollars that are accessible, deployable, and designed to reach communities statewide.
The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) supports climate finance to align resources and achieve goals in the MHCP and Michigan’s landmark climate action laws from 2023, protecting the health of people, the economy, and the environment.
“When clean energy can access the investment it needs to grow and thrive in Michigan, we all benefit,” said EGLE Director Phil Roos. “Climate finance empowers Michiganders to breathe easier, pollute less, protect our natural environment, and build a future-focused economy.”
In 2023, EGLE began intentionally engaging Michigan community lenders and national capital providers pursuing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to finance deployment of clean tech and activities benefitting low-income and disadvantaged communities.
The following year, EGLE announced the creation of the MI Climate Investment Hub (the Hub), a public-private-philanthropic partnership connecting the State of Michigan, national financial institutions, community lenders, community organizations, philanthropic organizations, and local government. Launched with support from the Kresge Foundation and 5 Lakes Energy and located in Detroit’s Newlab at Michigan Central, the Hub opened its doors in 2025 and supports projects across Michigan.
“Through initiatives like the Hub, Michigan is working to build additional cohesivity and connectivity among lenders, capital providers, and Michiganders deploy clean energy and climate projects. We’re building markets for this work to scale up quickly and to reduce barriers for folks to access financial and technical resources,” said MCI Hub Director Ben Dueweke.
Issuing a new challenge
Shortly after the Hub opened, Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist II announced the MI Healthy Climate Challenge series, at the 2025 MI Healthy Climate Conference in Detroit. It continues through the current phase, which Governor Gretchen Whitmer kicked off in a video address to the 2026 conference in April.
EGLE’s Office of Climate and Energy developed the Challenge program to remove specific barriers to climate action deployment, test new financing models, build market capacity, and generate scalable solutions. Program grants are designed to fuel high-impact initiatives that cut emissions, create good-paying jobs, and unlock even greater investment in Michigan’s clean energy economy.
Challenge #4 -titled Go Big, Go Clean – was announced by Governor Gretchen Whitmer this year and will fund facility-level feasibility studies for awardees focused on industrial decarbonization, giving them clear information they can use to assess modernization opportunities and investment decisions. Applicants signed up in May to be considered for the $1.8 million grant program.
Challenge #3, Growing Green Lending, announced its awards in April.
Challenge #2, Unlocking Elective Pay, announced its awards in January.
Challenge #1, Solar for Savings, remains paused indefinitely due to the termination of its grant program by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
State government is becoming an increasingly vital partner in furthering climate finance. Michigan supports building climate finance ecosystems, leveraging federal opportunities and private capital, and reducing barriers for underserved communities, as highlighted in a recent RMI recent report.
For more on the subject, here are ways to connect:
