Self-Help Climate Capital, LLC

Background

Self-Help Climate Capital, LLC is wholly owned by Self-Help Ventures Fund, part of the larger Self-Help network. The LLC was formed in 2024 to administer climate subsidies stemming from the Biden administration-backed Inflation Reduction Act. ^{4 5}

The Self-Help network was founded in 1980 by Martin Eakes and his wife, Barbara Wright, and grew from small-scale lending in North Carolina into a national organization whose affiliates reported more than $12 billion in cumulative financing to more than 176,000 borrowers. ^{6 1}

The network’s advocacy affiliate, the Center for Responsible Lending, was established in 2002 and has campaigned for federal and state restrictions on consumer lending products. The right-of-center Capital Research Center has reported that much of that advocacy targeted the business competitors of Self-Help’s own affiliated credit unions. ⁶

Self-Help Climate Capital was created in 2024, after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) selected the Climate United Fund coalition for a National Clean Investment Fund award in April of that year. The company began issuing contracting solicitations that July, before any federal money had been transferred, and advised bidders that payment would be contingent on Self-Help actually receiving NCIF grant funds from the EPA. ^{4 7 5}

Activities

Self-Help Climate Capital was assigned responsibility for building a national lending program, in partnership with other financial institutions, to finance residential solar installation, electric vehicle purchases, energy-efficiency retrofits, and building electrification. The company purchases environmental loans from partner lenders to supply liquidity to smaller institutions and partners with nonprofits and clean-energy programs. ^{1 7}

In July 2024, the company solicited recruiting and sourcing services to staff the new program, listing a climate capital director, business development officers, and compliance associates among the positions to be filled through December 2025. Bidders were asked to report organizational diversity metrics by race and ethnicity, gender, and “LGBTQ+” status; to state whether they qualified as a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise, Women’s Business Enterprise, or Minority-owned Business Enterprise; and to supply their Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action policies and Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) statements. Parallel contracting documents stated that Self-Help encouraged participation by businesses owned by racial minorities, women, and persons with disabilities. ^{4 2}

Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund Litigation

In February 2025, second Trump administration Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin publicly demanded the return of roughly $20 billion in Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund money held in accounts at Citibank, characterizing the arrangement as a rushed effort to obligate funds with reduced oversight before the change in administrations. Citibank then froze the accounts. ^{8 9}

On March 11, 2025, Zeldin terminated the grant agreements, citing “program integrity, the award process, programmatic fraud, waste, and abuse” and misalignment with agency priorities. The EPA subsequently stated that the terminations followed concerns regarding self-dealing, conflicts of interest, unqualified recipients, and intentionally reduced agency oversight. ^{10 8 11}

The Climate United Fund sued Citibank and the EPA in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and Judge Tanya Chutkan enjoined the terminations in April 2025. A divided D.C. Circuit panel vacated that injunction in September 2025, holding that the grantees had sued in the wrong forum and belonged in the Court of Federal Claims. The full court granted rehearing en banc in December 2025 and heard argument on February 24, 2026, with the funds remaining frozen throughout. ^{12 13 14 15}

On August 4, 2026, the en banc court voted six to four to affirm the portion of the injunction barring the EPA from effectuating the March 11, 2025, termination notices, concluding that the agency had likely contravened the Inflation Reduction Act by attempting to terminate the grants and claw back disbursed funds “based solely on a policy disagreement” with the statute. The remaining portions of the injunction were affirmed by an equally divided court, and the judges split over whether Section 60002 of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which repealed the underlying Inflation Reduction Act provision, altered the EPA’s authority going forward. ^{3 16}

Parallel suits challenging terminations under the companion Clean Communities Investment Accelerator were brought by Inclusiv and other awardees. As of August 2026, Self-Help acknowledged that its share of the funding remained frozen and stated that it stood ready to deploy the capital should it become available. ^{1 13}