John Kinney, CleanFund

CleanFund specializes in PACE financing, an innovative way for property owners to finance public good improvements to their buildings, including clean energy, efficiency, and resiliency through their property taxes. CleanFund got its start in Berkeley, California in 2009 and initiated the first privately funded PACE transaction focused on solar power. Since then, PACE financing options have taken hold in dozens of states across the USA, and CleanFund serves as an enabling mechanism in all of them. CleanFund specifically focuses on C-PACE or Commercial PACE, which means that it's wholly focused on commercial buildings. C-PACE can be applied to new construction or building retrofit projects, and the types of projects that qualify for C-PACE vary by state or locality.

It's going to take new ways of thinking about things for us to drive the decarbonization of our economy as fast as possible. With CleanFund, John is focusing on the huge emissions footprint of the built environment and is helping property managers and lenders unlock new tools to finance needed clean energy upgrades.

In this episode, we cover:

John's transition from fitness into climate
An overview of PACE or “Property Assessed Clean Energy”
Difference between residential and commercial PACE
Impacts of building regulations and penalties
New Hyatt construction example in Salt Lake City
An overview of CleanFund and its role in PACE
Who's on the capital side of PACE products
How CleanFund interacts with green banks at the state level
Forecasting the future of energy efficiency in the built environment
Innovative approaches to addressing emissions in the space
The challenges of working in commercial real estate
How to engage with CleanFund and learn more about PACE at CleanFun.com
CleanFund's plans for expanding

Get connected:
Cody Simms Twitter / LinkedIn
CleanFund
MCJ Podcast / Collective

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Episode recorded on February 24, 2023.

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant