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New England Environmental Finance Center

Our mission is to provide innovative financing solutions that help states, tribes, local governments, nonprofits, community-based organizations, and the private sector pay for environmental projects.

About Us

Since 2001, the New England Environmental Finance Center (NEEFC) at the University of Southern Maine has worked to build local capacity to pay for the growing cost of protecting critical environmental resources and fostering resilient communities.

Our programs reflect the greatest needs of the 6 New England states including funding and financing of climate adaptation and resilience, stormwater and nutrient management, water infrastructure, and sustainable operating practices.

“High quality water is more than the dream of the conservationists, more than a political slogan; high quality water, in the right quantity at the right place at the right time, is essential to health, recreation, and economic growth.”
— Edmund Muskie, Former U.S. Secretary of State, Senator & Governor of Maine

The NEEFC hosts the Southeast New England Program (SNEP) Network. The SNEP Network provides training and assistance to municipalities, organizations, and Tribes to advance stormwater and watershed management, ecological restoration, and climate resilience in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The Network’s mission is to meet communities where they are at, and advance their critical climate resilience projects to the funding and financing phase.

As part of the Environmental Finance Center Network (EFCN), the NEEFC is one of 10 regional centers supported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Together the EFCN is a collaborative of university-based organizations working to create innovative solutions to the difficult how-to-pay issues of environmental protection and improvement.

New & Noteworthy

Funding and Financing Policy Recommendations in Maine’s Climate Action Plan

The Maine Climate Council released an update of the State’s climate action plan, Maine Won’t Wait, in November 2024. The plan aims to reduce Maine’s greenhouse gas emissions, strengthen resilience to climate impacts, and bring climate action to all Maine people, while creating jobs and economic prosperity. The NEEFC participated in the process of updating the plan, helping develop new recommendations to ensure funding is available to pursue the actions proposed in the plan and accessible to the Maine communities and priority populations who need it (see Strategy F. Build Healthy and Resilienct Communications). Specific actions include:

  • “Expand finance options to ensure sustainable funding and financing for climate-ready infrastructure and adaptation projects. Study the feasibility of a ‘Resilience Bank’ and other finance tools by 2026.”
  • “Simplify and coordinate state grant application processes, including a common access portal for information about state grant programs, by 2026.”

NEEFC Joins UConn as Partner in New EPA Regional Environmental Justice Center

On Wednesday, Oct. 30, UConn, in partnership with the NEEFC and others, launched the Environmental Justice Thriving Community Technical Assistance Center (EJ-TCTAC) to provide critical support to communities throughout New England. Supported by a five-year $10 million grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the center will benefit cities, towns, and recognized Tribes throughout Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine. UConn and partners including the NEEFC will offer assistance with navigating the federal grant process, engagement efforts, and identifying funding opportunities as the region embraces evolving environmental challenges.

CO2 Shortages Led Maine Breweries to Adopt this Sustainable Solution

The Portland Press Herald

“Remember pandemic shortages? In your household, it may have been toilet paper, flour or chicken wings. For Maine’s about 150 craft breweries, the COVID-19 pandemic engendered scary shortages of CO2, a gas that is essential to make beer. The funny thing is, breweries also produce CO2, or carbon dioxide, in the beer-making process. Recently, a few Maine breweries have turned to technology newly adapted to small craft breweries that allows them to recapture the CO2 they produce and reuse it to make their beer. These closed-loop systems can save the breweries money, offer security in the event of future CO2 shortages and reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change.”  

Featured Funding Opportunity

Sustainability Grants

Natural Resources Council of Maine 

Submission Deadline: 2/21/2025

Grant or Loan? Grant 

Funding Available: $2000

Who’s Eligible? Schools, organized committees, and start-up groups

Purpose: To encourage individuals, communities, and the state to adopt practical, effective measures that conserve and protect our natural resources.

Eligible Activities: Eligible activities include but are not limited to enacting measures to reduce school waste, creating publicity/signage for waste reduction campaigns, developing educational documentary screenings, obtaining community garden supplies, and purchasing reusables for economically disadvantaged community members.

Climate Adaptation and Resilience  Grants

Climate Smart Communities Initiative 

Submission Deadline: 3/3/2025 by 8 p.m 

Grant or Loan? Grant 

Funding Available: Approximately $100,000 in funding as well as access to training opportunities, technical experts, and cohort support.

Who’s Eligible? Communities on the front lines of the climate crisis in the United States, including the 50 states, the District of Columbia, commonwealths, territories, and Tribal nations. If the proposed work  is local in scope, the population of the community should be less than 300,000 residents. If the proposed work is regional in scope, areas with up to 500,000 residents will be considered.    

Purpose: To create or advance a climate resilience plan or project in collaboration with a community that is on the front lines of the climate crisis.

Eligible Activities: Eligible projects may include, but are not limited to, resilience planning, climate vulnerability assessments, feasible solution identification, and increasing community engagement.

Project Teams: Applications must be submitted by an application team composed of 1.) an adaptation professional (an organization or sole practitioner that has been accepted into the Registry of Climate Resilience and Adaptation Professionals) 2.) community-based organization (a non-profit organization, local university, informal community leader) and 3.) a government partner (a town, city, county, district, regional or Tribal government.)

Looking for additional funding opportunities?

What We Do

Outreach and Engagement

Community engagement, charrettes, and meeting facilitation that engages all stakeholders and includes their voices in planning decisions.

Technical Assistance

Training and assistance to municipalities, organizations, and tribes to advance stormwater and watershed management, funding and sustainable financing, and improve utility and business operations to achieve resilience to the changing climate.

Education and Training

Capacity building and education of state and local decision makers and utility managers in innovative
financing solutions.

Develop Young Professionals

Engaging student interns in projects to help develop the next generation of environmental finance professionals.