This is one of many articles in the Mercury’s 2026 Climate Issue. Find a print copy here, subscribe to get a copy mailed to you here, and if you’re feeling generous and want to keep these types of articles coming, support us here.—eds.
Just after President Trump took office for the first time, environmental activists in Portland decided they couldn’t wait for the federal government to address the ever-worsening climate crisis. It was time to equip the city with the tools to respond and adapt to climate change at the local level.
Thus, the Portland Clean Energy Fund (PCEF) ballot measure was born, and approved by voters in 2018. Supporters said the program, which would be funded through a 1 percent tax on local sales at big businesses, was a “story about [Portland] creating our own clean energy future.” It was intended to specifically benefit low-income communities and communities of color, who are often left out of climate investments and tend to experience more significant impacts during extreme weather events.
In the run-up to the 2018 election, the PCEF campaign projected the initiative would raise at least $30 million a year for local climate projects. PCEF’s funding mechanism turned out to be much more lucrative—the program has raised about $200 million a year since tax collection began in 2019. The program’s Climate Investment Plan has allocated $1.6 billion in spending through 2029.
The money is intended for specific goals, such as transportation decarbonization, energy efficiency in residential and commercial buildings, and regenerative agriculture. Some funds are allocated to projects managed by local nonprofit organizations, while other PCEF-funded projects are led by city bureaus or through partnerships with community organizations and government agencies.
PCEF’s financial success has been a double-edged sword for the program. As the city has struggled with significant budget crises in recent years, many bureaus have turned to PCEF for a bailout. City officials have also proposed tapping PCEF to pay for a significant chunk of the potential Moda Center renovations. The clean energy fund was also targeted by an initiative hoping to permanently divert 25 percent of its revenue to hire police. (The latter effort is off the table, at least for the time being.)
Clean energy fund defenders say voters adopted PCEF for a specific purpose—to mitigate carbon emissions and help those most impacted by climate change. Yes, the program has raked in more money than expected, but program leaders say its budget is still just a drop in the bucket of what would truly be required to meet the city’s climate goals.
PCEF estimates its programs have resulted in nearly 35,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions reductions so far—the equivalent of getting more than 8,000 gas-powered cars off the road. Other benefits are less quantitative. The Mercury talked to a sample of the many organizations and individuals who have received PCEF funding, to learn about the impact the program had for them.
(In addition to the organizations and programs featured in this article, the Mercury also recently highlighted PCEF’s e-bike rebate and workforce development programs.)
Black Futures Farm
Black Futures Farm is located on 1.15 acres of land in Southeast Portland’s Brentwood-Darlington neighborhood, near the Brentwood Community Garden and Portland State University’s Learning Gardens Laboratory. The farm, co-founded by Mirabai Collins and Malcolm Hoover, opened in 2020 as part of the Black Food Sovereignty Coalition.
In 2021, Black Futures Farm received a $1.7 million PCEF award to aid their regenerative agriculture work. The funding supported the construction of solar panels and a water catchment system to power the farm, and helped expand their capacity to host workshops and training sessions. Collins said the PCEF grant enabled Black Futures Farm to host more than 100 workshops, trainings, and gatherings over the years. The farm has distributed more 15,000 pounds of fresh food to more than 7,600 people.
“In the midst of everything, the city has an opportunity to stay the course, and to say, ‘No, this is important work.'”
Mirabai Collins
Collins told the Mercury that PCEF’s benefits can’t be easily summarized in data-driven reports. What’s missing in the quantitative data, she said, is “the invisible work that PCEF funds.” Collins said the grant Black Futures Farm received allowed the organization to get creative with their workshops at the site, and collaborate with other experts in the regenerative agriculture field.
“There’s all of this place-making and community work and the exchange of skills related to climate resilience. Networks are being created [to get through] whatever this climate shift entails,” Collins said. “That’s a super important part of what PCEF does—it helps communities teach and learn and build relationships.”
Black Futures Farm was born out of a desire to build community—particularly among Black Portlanders—and to “heal the connection between Black people and the land.”
“We’ve encountered that there’s a lot about agriculture that, historically and even presently, has been violent and brutal and difficult for Black people,” Collins said. “We started being together on the land, and it was so nurturing. When we cultivate joyous and loving experiences on the land, we’re certainly not doing that to erase our histories and experiences, but really just to reconcile and balance and heal as much as we can.”
Collins thinks PCEF is “a rare and incredible opportunity for Portland to uphold its ideals,” which has become all the more important as federal funding for climate and equity work disappears.
“In the midst of everything, the city has an opportunity to stay the course, and to say, ‘No, this is important work,’” she said. “It gives residents some autonomy and protection against tyranny. You know, we can still build these things. We can still grow food for each other.”
Portland Fruit Tree Project
Portland is home to thousands of fruit-bearing trees, vines, and shrubs. But much of the delicious fruit available in the city’s “urban orchard” is wasted. The Portland Fruit Tree Project was created to address this problem, and to spread the good word about fruit trees more generally.
The organization harvests residential fruit trees (upon request) and redistributes the yield. It also offers community education, tree care services, and workforce training for young people of color through the Connecting Canopies program. The Fruit Tree Project has also developed an index of local fruit trees, scoring their health and harvestability over time.
In 2023, the nonprofit received two PCEF grants totaling roughly $570,000. A little more than half of the funding was allocated to general operations, helping the organization expand its workforce training, harvest more fruit from local trees, and keep those trees healthy. The other grant was used to purchase two electric cars and an electric bike to replace their old, gas-powered trucks.
Heather Keisler Fornes, director of the Portland Fruit Tree Project, said fruit trees often go ignored in efforts to maintain and increase urban canopy coverage. The trees don’t always provide the most shade—though they can offer some—but they offer carbon sequestration, benefit pollinator species, and, of course, are a source of food. But they can be a little high-maintenance.
“Putting in resources for tree care helps to make the fruit and tree healthier,” Keisler Fornes said. “If you have less fruit waste, people are less likely to cut the tree down. So it’s all part of tree retention.”
At a residential harvest in Southwest Portland earlier this summer, Fruit Tree Project staff and volunteers picked plums from a tree with branches overflowing with the fruit. They stood atop ladders and even climbed into the tree to reach the highest-hanging plums. It wasn’t a quick or easy task, and it was apparent how an abundance of fruit could burden homeowners and result in unhealthy trees. The arrangement is a win-win-win—in addition to the benefits to the tree’s owners and those who receive the donated fruit, it’s also clear the volunteers enjoy the harvesting job.
“Things are pretty dire right now. This is a very tangible way you can get outside, which is already going to make you happier, to do something with other people who also want to make things better,” Keisler Fornes said. “There’s something inherently joyful about picking food for people.”
Energy Friendly Homes
Buildings—both commercial and residential—are a major source of carbon emissions in Portland, largely because of the energy required to power them. In 2021, according to county estimates, the residential sector made up about 17 percent of Multnomah County’s total emissions. Home energy costs are also a major financial strain for many Americans, and energy prices are only continuing to rise, here in Portland and beyond.
PCEF has dedicated a major chunk of its resources to domestic building efficiency projects, funding both new housing construction and retrofit projects intended to make existing homes more energy efficient. One such program, dubbed Energy Friendly Homes, is intended to help low-and-moderate-income homeowners and renters make their homes more efficient, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and lowering costs.
PCEF allocated $140 million to the Energy Friendly Homes program over five years, which the program says will be spent on efficiency upgrades at 3,100 single-family homes, duplexes, triplexes, and quadplexes. Most awards are limited to those with household incomes at or below 80 percent the area median income, though moderate-income homeowners can also apply for up to $15,000 in energy efficiency upgrades if they are willing to provide a 50 percent match.
The program intends to conduct 1,500 “deep energy retrofits,” which could cost up to $50,000 per home. The deep energy retrofits include heat pump and heat pump water heater installation for efficient heating and cooling, as well as insulation upgrades and sealing to ensure air doesn’t escape or enter the home. Homeowners may also benefit from ventilation upgrades and smart thermostats, which can help reduce energy consumption.
The Mercury talked to a young Portland homeowner named Ian who benefitted from a $30,000 home retrofit from the Energy Friendly Homes program. Before receiving the efficiency upgrades, Ian and their partner relied on window air conditioning units to keep cool during Portland’s increasingly hot summers. But window AC units aren’t super effective at cooling larger spaces, and in Ian’s older home, it was particularly hard to contain cool air. But buying a home is expensive, and Ian didn’t have much money left over to address the problem.
“Before, summer was pretty miserable. I really dreaded any hot days, and with climate change, you know, we’re just getting more of those,” Ian said. “[The upgrades] really relieved a lot of anxiety for summer. I feel like I can just kind of exist now.”
Ian said the upgrades have significantly reduced their monthly electricity bill. They pointed out other benefits, too.
“It’s cool to see that when that bill goes down, it also means you’re doing less damage to the environment,” Ian said.
