Two years ago, Providence set out to make all city buildings carbon-neutral by 2040 as part of an effort to rein in the greenhouse gas emissions driving global climate change.
The city has made some progress since then by installing solar panels on schools and recreation centers, and reducing energy usage across municipal buildings, but it still has a long way to go to reach the goal signed into law by Mayor Brett Smiley.
More help could come with the creation of a special fund devoted to reducing greenhouse gas emissions produced by the 130 buildings in Providence owned by the city.
Smiley was joined by other Providence officials on April 7 to announce a proposal to set up a “Green Revolving Fund” that would be seeded with an initial $3 million from the city’s capital improvement budget to pay for more renewable energy systems and energy efficiency upgrades on municipal property.
State and federal incentive payments, as well as utility bill savings from the work, would flow back into the fund to replenish its coffers and support coming rounds of investments.
The mayor said the city has no plans to slow down investments in clean energy despite the Trump administration’s opposition to renewables and moves in Washington to cut off support for – and, in many cases, actively fight against – solar, wind and other alternatives to fossil fuels.
Local government, Smiley said, needs to step up in the absence of federal leadership on climate change.
“Today we are here to reaffirm our commitment to doing our part to address the climate crisis,” Smiley said. “This city will not backpedal in our efforts to reduce carbon emissions in buildings despite the federal administration that continues to roll back programs that advance necessary deployment of new energy resources.”
The announcement was made in front of the carriage house in Roger Williams Park, where the newest solar power system on a city building is set to be installed. The 110-kilowatt rooftop array will be part of 1.4 megawatts of renewable capacity that’s planned to be installed this year, accounting for about 5% of municipal electric usage.
Council member Sue AnderBois said she plans to introduce the ordinance creating the fund at the next Council meeting April 16.
Decarbonizing city buildings won’t come cheap. A roadmap released this month by the city estimates the cost at $61 million, but it also projects that efficiency improvements will partially offset the cost with $12 million in cumulative bill savings through 2040.
AnderBois, chair of the Council’s special committee on environment and resiliency, said that creating the fund guarantees there will be money to spend on the clean energy parts of any city building project.
“These are things that are happening anyway and this supports the green elements,” said AnderBois, a Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor.
She continued, “Sometimes people ask me, ‘Can we afford to be doing all this decarbonization?’ And we actually can’t afford not to. It’s what’s actually going to stabilize our rates.”
Since the enactment of the carbon-neutral ordinance in March 2024, which was also introduced by AnderBois, the city has completed or started 22 building electrification projects, according to the decarbonization roadmap.
Energy efficiency improvements have been made in more than 60 buildings over the same time frame. And the city is saving $1.5 million a year through credits from off-site solar projects.
The foundation for the work to shrink the carbon footprint of Providence’s municipal buildings was laid in 2010 with an early effort to track energy usage. That was followed in 2018 by RePowerPVD, a voluntary program to reduce energy consumption.
The current administration stepped up the work in November 2023 with passage of an ordinance requiring all large buildings to track energy use. The system scores buildings on efficiency and alllows them to be compared to each other.
With help from the new program, energy use in city buildings has dropped 7% over the past four years. Carbon emissions, meanwhile, have gone down by 10 percent, according to Josh Estrella, a spokesman for Smiley.
Priscilla De La Cruz, director of sustainability for Providence, said there’s some urgency to create the fund to keep the momentum going. A federal investment tax credit for solar energy is set to expire in 2027, so officials want to get as many projects underway quickly to ensure the maximum amount of credits goes into the revolving fund.
Smiley said the city is aiming to set an example for others with its work to green city buildings.
“The Green Revolving Fund will be another essential strategy to achieve our lead-by-example goals, keeping the city’s energy consumption on an affordable path and continuing to show other communities how they can do their part as well,” he said. “Providence has been a leader in this space and we will continue to do so.”

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