US Energy Department Secretary, Jennifer Granholm has said that the department has created an energy office meant to create jobs for communities that have been “left behind for far too long.”

This includes “communities of colour living with the toxic legacy of air pollution,” reports local media. 

Also Read: New US Energy Secretary says ‘plenty of opportunities’ to transition into clean energy

Elucidating further, Granholm has said that she is ready to use $40 billion available in the department’s loan program office for boosting the country’s transition to clean energy. The funds majorly went unused in the last four years.

Jennifer Granholm may play an important role in President Joe Biden’s push to put the country on a path to fully decarbonize the economy by 2050, reports Reuters. 

Also Read: US Senate confirms Jennifer Granholm as Energy Secretary

During the virtual CERAWeek conference, the energy secretary said, “I am ready to rev those engines back up so that we can spur the next generation of innovation and deployment…We’re ready to invest in advanced vehicles, carbon capture, advanced reactors, and so much more.”  

As per Granholm, clean energy finance expert, Jigar Shah will be heading the energy department’s loan programs office.

“He’s going to help us put together an indomitable portfolio of investments for American taxpayers, that will help us tackle climate change and create jobs,” she said. 

Shah is known to have co-founded Generate Capital where he helped entrepreneurs speed decarbonization. He has also financed a solar energy financing company, SunEdison. 

The loans office of the Energy Department was founded under the Obama Administration in 2009. It has known to have loaned money to successful businesses like Tesla Inc.