We’re inviting collaboration with other community organizations and individuals in Rochester and surrounding areas.
Taking meaningful climate action requires collaboration
None of us can succeed in building a new future for humanity by acting alone. We need to work together to reduce emissions in every sector of the economy. We need to collaborate to restore the Earth, provide fresh water and healthy food, protect biodiversity, and foster justice and fairness in our community. This brief document sets out our ideas for collaborating effectively with other nonprofits, for-profits, and individuals in pursuit of our mission—in Rochester and elsewhere—which is to drive greater investment into clean energy, resiliency, and ecosystem restoration.
If you’re a nonprofit leader, here’s what you need to know.
- Our goal is to connect and align with regenerative initiatives in our eco-region
- We have access to finance capital for major energy efficiency improvements and renewable energy systems in commercial and industrial (C&I) buildings, including multifamily, agricultural, and nonprofit/institutional properties such as schools, churches, and hospitals
- Capital for the balance of funds needed for energy efficiency/renewable energy/resiliency measures, after incentives) comes from long-term investors such as insurance companies and pension funds, via specialized Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) lenders, or from major energy companies in the case of on-bill financing.
- C-PACE could bring as much as $1 billion in new investment, create 18,000 jobs, and generate another $2.1 billion in economic benefits in the City of Rochester, alone. (corroborated by Mike Centore of PACENation, the industry’s association).
- Further, joining a community-led campaign to influence commercial property owners to upgrade, save money, and cut carbon has several co-benefits:
- Educating citizens about the urgent need to cut emissions, and about how this can be done in some of the most carbon-intensive areas, the built environment
- Creating opportunities for additional nonprofit revenue streams, and for local entrepreneurial and/or cooperative initiatives to “do well by doing good”
- Increasing nonprofit collaboration, which lays a foundation for further regenerative projects and activities in the community
- Possible Rochester will share revenues with the community, from arrangement fees for C-PACE projects that we’re able to connect to funding sources
- Possible Rochester will support and help generate training, materials, and innovative approaches to help the community derive financial and other benefits e.g., job development,
- Plan for a gaming approach that includes friendly competition(s) to earn points for peoples’ favored nonprofits, and awards, through a Race for PACE (or appropriate name)
If you’d like to be a part of this effort, please contact us today.
Why PACE Matters
Buildings account for 70% of emissions in cities, and three-quarters of those are from commercial and industrial (C&I) buildings. The City’s goal is to reduce these emissions by 40% over 2010 levels by 2030. The new Biden Administration goal is to reduce them by 50-52%. Meeting the IPCC’s “carbon budget” to stay under 1.5°C would require net-zero emissions by 2028. It’s urgent to take action at scale—now.
There are all sorts of good reasons for PACE.
But most property owners don’t know about it, in part because it’s fairly new, and because their trusted advisors—architects, engineers, attorneys, and accountants—don’t know about it either. So there’s a disconnect between the capital providers and the project developers, such that the compelling benefits of PACE are not recognized.
- There is no reason not to adopt the latest, state-of-the-art, energy solutions available—if these are saving money from the get-go, and someone else is putting up the capital.
- And for most property owners it’s an off-balance-sheet transaction that doesn’t add to their liability or touch their capital.
- For developers, it’s a substitute for mezzanine financing (often more than twice the cost) and requires no personal guarantees.
Contact us for more information
Victoria Zelin-Cloud, Co-founder and Director 908-507-3150 | victoria@possiblerochester.org
Jonathan Cloud, Executive Director 908-581-8418 | jonathan @possiblerochester.org
So isn’t it time your community joined the Race for PACE? [page coming soon]