Ceres published a press release reporting that CEO and President Mindy Lubber testified in support of proposed Massachusetts legislation to create a climate bank intended to finance climate mitigation and resilience projects and accelerate clean energy deployment across the Commonwealth. In written and oral comments to the Massachusetts Legislature’s Joint Committee on Financial Services, Lubber argued that private capital is a largely untapped resource for funding the energy transition and resilience, and that a climate bank could leverage public and private investment to provide low-interest loans, credit enhancements, and other financial products for homeowners, small businesses, and other beneficiaries. She pointed to an existing model of 40 other state and local climate banks in the United States, which collectively invested USD 10.6 billion into clean energy projects in 2023, and recommended that environmental justice communities, as defined by Massachusetts state law, be made a lending priority in addition to the rural and coastal communities already referenced in the proposal. The proposed bill is titled the Act Creating a Climate Bank in Massachusetts (H.3937 / S.786), and Lubber’s full written testimony is scheduled to be submitted for the record later this week.

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