About
EFC9 works with Tribes, communities, government and industry to build green economies in the United States and internationally. Partnered with the Green MBA program 
at Dominican University of California, EFC9 emphasizes the principle that environmental protection creates long term financial, social and environmental sustainability. EFC9's mandate has traditionally been to provide our services throughout EPA Region IX – California, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii.
Through education, capacity building and program development we:
- Encourage industry to implement green business practices,
- Promote climate change mitigation and adaptation, and
- Foster sustainable communities.
- Green business program development (projects in California, Hawaii and Arizona),
- Innovative finance program development (projects in California and Arizona),
- Business incubation (projects in California),
- Environmental technology assessment (projects in California and Nevada),
- Environmental facilitation & mediation (projects in Arizona and California),
- Conferences, workshops and roundtables (projects in California, Arizona, Hawaii and Nevada), and
- Research publications and reports.
EFC9 is also a member of the Environmental Finance Center Network which is comprised of university Centers throughout the United States and described below. Each EFC is associated with a local university and pursues its own environmental goals. EFC9 is the only Finance Center dedicated to resolving environmental finance issues in the private sector.
The first Environmental Finance Center (EFC) was created in 1992. Over the course of the next seven years, eight additional EFCs were established. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and a set of official bylaws were agreed to in 2000, formally establishing the Environmental Finance Center Network (EFCN) and further solidifying the collaborative nature of these centers.
The EFCN now includes nine university-based centers offering a wide array of financial services to EPA regions across the country. The EFCs that make up the network include: University of Southern Maine (Region 1); Syracuse University (Region 2); University of Maryland (Region 3); University of Louisville and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Region 4); Cleveland State University (Region 5); New Mexico Institute for Mining and Technology (Region 6); Dominican University of California (Region 9); and Boise State University (Region 10). The center directors have traditionally met twice a year for the past 16 years concurrent with the EPA Environmental Finance Advisory Board meeting where the EFC directors serve as expert witnesses to the board. This organized network allows the EFCs to combine the expertise of each center, greatly enhancing the ability to provide innovative financing tools and techniques relevant to a broad array of resource protection issues throughout the country.
Some of the unique services provided through the joint collaboration of the EFCN include economic and fiscal impact analyses, financial planning strategies and programs, financial policy and practice guides, conferences and workshops, program evaluation, and process facilitation. The EFCN has worked on topics ranging from wastewater and drinking water; green infrastructure; smart growth; sustainable business development; and watershed planning to issues pertaining to air pollution prevention, energy efficiency and global climate change.
By working together as a team of professionals on many projects over the past decade, the EFCN has successfully provided a wide range of technical assistance with measurable impacts on local governments, businesses and communities around the country. The EFCN does this by leveraging and promoting each other’s unique financing tools, sharing analyses, offering each other technical assistance, and providing free consultation and project guidance to a range of constituencies. This unique partnership will continue to grow and expand in 2010 and beyond through new joint projects and will continue to provide outcomes far greater than the sum of its parts.