Frequently Asked Questions

Loan guarantees are available to California small businesses and qualified nonprofits with up to 750 employees.

The Bay Area Air District facilitates the Climate Tech Finance loan guarantee by partnering with IBank to help climate tech companies secure financing. The program evaluates projects for greenhouse gas reduction impact, connects companies with lenders, and reduces lender risk by guaranteeing up to 80% of loans.

Climate Tech Finance offers loan guarantees of up to $5 million on loans up to $20 million, with up to a 7-year term (the loan term can be longer).

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.

80% of the loan amount is backed by a leveraged trust fund held by the State of California.

To qualify for a Climate Tech Finance loan guarantee, the applicant must be a small business of 1-750 employees, ready for commercialization, with operations in California.

Technology Eligibility

For the purposes of this program, climate technology is defined as a product or service that has or physically provides one or more of the following actions:

• Reduce or eliminate greenhouse gas emissions
• Sequester carbon to prevent it from entering the atmosphere
• Remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere

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

Examples of ineligible projects include:

• Reliance on fossil fuels
• Dependence on fossil fuel infrastructure where electric or zero-emission alternatives are currently feasible, with nuanced consideration for transitional technologies.

Technology eligibility is determined on a project-by-project basis. Projects that are not eligible for the Climate Tech Finance guarantee may still apply for IBank’s loan guarantee program through their website.

To apply to be a part of the Climate Tech Finance program please submit an application. We will reach out to you for additional information.

Loan guarantee applications are accepted on a rolling basis.

Yes, loan guarantees 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.