Center for Environmental Finance (CEF)

Background

While the costs of environmental protection are growing rapidly, our nation's ability to meet these rising costs is falling behind. The financing gap is widening. Consequently, the nation needs to make the effort to develop long-term funding strategies.

Because we live in times of diminishing resources and competing priorities, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has developed the Center for Environmental Finance to assist communities in their search for creative approaches to funding their environmental projects.

The Center for Environmental Finance at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency provides financial technical assistance to the regulated community and advice and recommendations to the Agency on environmental finance issues, trends, and options.

Purpose and Methodology

Drawing on the financing expertise of staff, the Environmental Financial Advisory Board (EFAB), and university based Environmental Finance Centers, the Center for Environmental Finance seeks to lower costs, increase investment, and build capacity by creating partnerships with state and local governments and the private sector to fund environmental needs.

The Center for Environmental Finance operates through three activities:

1. The Environmental Financial Advisory Board or EFAB is a federally chartered advisory committee consisting of a diverse group of independent financing experts from public and private sector organizations. Its main interest lies in lowering environmental costs and increasing investment in environmental facilities and services. The Board produces policy and technical reports on a wide range of environmental finance matters of interest to EPA. It focuses on environmental finance issues at all levels of government, particularly with regard to their impact on local governments and small communities. The Board seeks to increase the total investment in environmental protection by facilitating greater leverage of public and private environmental resources.

2. The Environmental Finance Center (EFC) Network is a university-based program providing financial outreach services to regulated communities. The Network consists of nine EFCs that share information and expertise on finance issues and engage jointly in projects. The Network includes (in order of their establishment): the University of New Mexico in Region 6; the University of Maryland in Region 3; Syracuse University in Region 2; the Great Lakes EFC at Cleveland State University in Region 5; Boise State University in Idaho located in Region 10; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Region 4; University of Louisville - Center For Environmental Policy & Management in Region 4; University of Southern Maine in Region 1; Dominican University of California in Region 9.
   The EFCs educate state and local officials and small businesses on various issues including, lowering costs of compliance and pollution prevention, increasing investments in environmental protection, improving financial capacity to own/operate environmental systems, encouraging the full cost pricing of environmental services, and identifying and evaluating financing tools and options.

3. The Environmental Financing Information Network (EFIN) is an outreach service offering electronic access to many types of environmental financing information on financing alternatives for State and local environmental programs and projects. EFIN services include a website, a list of pertinent publications and documents, referrals to an expert contact network, reference service via telephone and email, and access to various EPA publications.
   EFIN also maintains a Web page of Environmental Financial Tools. This page includes tools produced by the Center for Environmental Finance, the Environmental Financial Advisory Board (EFAB), the Environmental Finance Center Network (EFCs), EFIN, EPA Offices and Programs and Other (outside EPA) sources. A key work among the financing mechanisms on this page is the Guidebook of Financial Tools.
   The Guidebook is produced by the Environmental Finance Center Network and the Environmental Financial Advisory Board. It is intended as a basic financial reference document for public and private officials with environmental responsibilities. It provides a wealth of valuable information on financing tools that federal, state, local governments and the private sector can use to pay for environmental programs, systems, and activities. The information is intended to help governments and other parties expand their thinking about the financial options/resources available to help meet important environmental mandates and create sustainable systems.