The Rockefeller Foundation has announced a $2.5 million grant in support of energy-saving home retrofit strategies for affordable housing.

The grant will support the Residential Retrofits for Energy Equity (R2E2), launched by the American Council for Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), Elevate, Emerald Cities Collaborative, and HR&A Advisors to provide training to state, local, and tribal governments as well as community-based organizations (CBOs) to facilitate energy upgrades for affordable housing. With additional grants of $250,000 each from JPMorgan Chase and the Wells Fargo Foundation and support from the JPB Foundation, R2E2 will work to address the compounding crises of housing affordability, energy insecurity, and climate change by lowering utility bills, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving residents’ health, creating high-paying local jobs, and helping to advance racial equity. The People’s Climate Innovation Center is advising R2E2 on centering equity in the project and its outcomes and on facilitating community-driven planning processes.

According to ACEEE, Native American, Black, and Hispanic/Latinx households pay an average of between 20 percent and 45 percent more of their incomes on energy bills than white households but are among the least likely to receive energy upgrades.

R2E2 will focus on scaling building energy retrofits and leveraging federal funding; offer guidance on energy upgrade financing models, economic inclusion, navigating the complexities of the affordable housing sector, and engaging with CBOs to ensure that proposals reflect community needs; and center authentic engagement with underserved communities, community leaders, local workforce development, and BIPOC communities, renters, and marginalized groups.

“Right now, too many lower-income households, older adults, and communities of color face a disproportionately higher energy burden as a percentage of their income and receive energy sourced by burning traditional expensive heating fuels that contribute to the climate crisis,” said Elizabeth Yee, executive vice president of programs at the Rockefeller Foundation. “As the Rockefeller Foundation seeks to make opportunity universal and sustainable, we are proud to support [R2E2’s] community-driven approach to unlock access to clean energy for more families across the United States, saving money, improving quality of life, and reducing emissions.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Andrey Sayfutdinov)