Frequently Asked Questions

Municipalities, universities, schools, hospitals, and qualifying nonprofits within the Air District’s jurisdiction are eligible for Climate Tech Finance financing. Direct loans are available to Bay Area public-sector facilities, including municipalities, universities, schools, hospitals, and eligible nonprofits. Loan guarantees are available to Bay Area small businesses and eligible nonprofits with up to 750 employees.

The Air District is collaborating with IBank (California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank) to disburse loans and loan guarantees. IBank provides loans to state and local governments for public infrastructure and economic expansion projects, as well as loan guarantees to help small businesses.

Climate Tech Finance offers loan guarantees of up to $5 million are offered on loans of up to $20 million, with up to a 7-year term (the loan term can be longer). IBank provides loans for public entities ranging from $500,000 to $30 million, with up to 30-year terms.

The interest rates for small businesses are determined by many external and internal factors and banks are generally free to set up their own interest rate.

IBank interest rates for public entities are set based on a combination of an Interest Rate Benchmark and Interest Rate Adjustments, which are dependent upon the repayment source. The Interest Rate Benchmark will be based on the Thompson's Municipal Market Data Index (MMD) and use published letter category ratings for the pledged revenue stream to determine the base (market price) spread from the MMD AAA GO Scale applicable to the borrower. Interest Rate Adjustments will cause the interest rate on financings to generally be below the Interest Rate Benchmark.

Climate Tech Finance supports emerging technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Emerging technologies include technologies that have been successfully demonstrated at the pilot, demonstration, or early commercial scale, but have not reached full commercial scale.

Greenhouse gas emissions reductions include either direct reductions on-site (e.g., process improvements, electrification) or indirect reductions (e.g., reduced energy consumption).

Examples of eligible technologies include:

• Fuel cell or battery systems for on-site energy storage
• Waste-to-energy systems at wastewater treatment or solid waste facilities
• Carbon-sequestering cement substitutes
• In-vessel composting systems

The goal is to accelerate a new generation of products and services that reduce atmospheric carbon pollution by doing one or more of the following:

• eliminating greenhouse gas emissions,
• reducing emission of climate pollutants,
• sequestering carbon to prevent it from entering the atmosphere, and 
• drawing radiative-forcing gases out of the atmosphere.

Technology eligibility is determined on a project-by-project basis. Projects that are not eligible for Air District funding may still apply for IBank financing.

To apply for loans or loan guarantees, please contact ctf@baaqmd.gov with a brief description of your project. We will reach out to you for additional information.

Loan applications are accepted on a rolling basis.

Yes, public-private partnerships are eligible for financing under this program. For example, past IBank financings have supported projects that also received public and private-sector investments and donations.

Yes, loans through this program can be combined with grants or other sources of funding.

Generally, a business that has fewer than 750 employees in total will be eligible. This program adheres to the definition of small business in part 121 of chapter 1 of title 13 of the Code of Federal Regulations as amended.