CT Green Bank gets Harvard award

The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, a research center at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, named the Connecticut Green Bank the winner of the 2017 Innovations in American Government Award. Included is a $100,000 grand prize to support the replication and dissemination of the initiative.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said, “As cities and states across this country confront climate change, green banks can help mobilize more private investment and accelerate the growth of their local green energy economies.”

The Green Bank is the first of its kind in the U.S. It was established by Malloy through bipartisan support from the Connecticut General Assembly in July 2011. The green bank model demonstrates how public resources can be leveraged to mobilize private investment in local green economies. 

Since 2011, for every public dollar invested, the bank has attracted six dollars of private investment. An estimated 13,000 jobs have been created through the Green Bank, which has also driven a total of $1 billion of clean energy investment across the state. This translates to more than 215 megawatts of clean power, over 20,000 projects and a reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by 2.6 million tons. Clean energy prices have decreased by up to 30 percent.