Report: Indiana lagged behind other states in federal climate funding, but it's catching up

Until recently, Indiana received the second lowest amount of funding per person from the Inflation Reduction Act and the federal infrastructure law. That’s according to a report by Atlas Public Policy.

But the state could be catching up. As of last month, Indiana has secured more than $450 million or $66 dollars per person. About half of that came from a recent grant from the infrastructure law for a new lithium battery plant in Terre Haute.

While $66 per capita may sound like a lot, neighboring Kentucky and Michigan received about twice as much.

Annabelle Rosser is a senior policy analyst at Atlas Public Policy. She said it can be hard for some state agencies to find the staff time to apply for or implement this funding — and grant writing is a complicated process.

Fortunately, she said there are resources to help and there’s still time — only about one-fifth of the federal funding for climate programs has been awarded.

“So there's also still ample opportunity for communities in the state, state agencies to continue to take advantage of these funds," Rosser said.