How Mountain Communities Fund Climate Action

Mountain communities have done much of the hard work of figuring out what climate solutions work. The harder question is how to pay for them, especially with lean staff, seasonal revenue, high infrastructure costs, and grant competitions that favor bigger applicants.

This 60-minute session moves past the funding wish-list and into a practical capital playbook. We’ll cover what’s still available in federal and IRA dollars (and the deadlines that make timing urgent), how to stack public and private capital, and how a mix of local revenue tools (value capture, resilience fees, special assessment districts, bonds, and tourism-linked mechanisms) can fund deployment year over year. We’ll also look at how neighboring communities can pool capacity to compete for grants they’d lose alone. You’ll leave with a menu of financing mechanisms matched to mountain-town realities and a sense of which ones to pursue first.

Core Question: If communities know what solutions work, how do they pay for them?

Presenter:
George Chmael II, President & CEO Council Fire