Trump administration cancels clean energy grants as it prioritizes fossil fuels
President Donald Trump’s administration is terminating grants for two clean energy projects and roughly 300 others funded by the Department of Energy are in jeopardy as the president prioritizes fossil fuels.
The DOE is canceling two awards to a nonprofit clean energy think tank, RMI in Colorado, according to a document from the agency confirming the cancellations that was reviewed by the Associated Press on Friday. One was for nearly $5.3 million to retrofit low-income multifamily buildings in Massachusetts and California to demonstrate ways to reduce the use of energy and lower planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions. The other was for $1.5 million to assess business models for electric vehicle carsharing in U.S. cities.
The department wrote that it had determined the awards do not meet the administration's objectives. Both awards are on a list of about 300 clean energy projects under review. President Donald Trump declared an energy emergency early in his term and is working to speed up fossil fuel development, which he sums up as “drill, baby, drill.”
The burning of oil, gas and coal is the main contributor to global warming caused by human activity. President Joe Biden tried to lock in a trajectory for reducing the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions. As his term came to an end, his administration raced to award billions of dollars for clean energy and approved major offshore wind projects.
RMI spokeswoman Dina Cappiello confirmed the organization had received a termination letter for the EV carsharing viability work, and had anticipated it. That work won’t proceed as a result of the funding being pulled back. As of Friday afternoon, she said she hadn't seen a second letter, but the retrofitting work is due to finish in June using a grant announced during Trump's first term.
The Department of Energy said in a statement late Friday that the department “acted in the best interest of the American people” by terminating the grants. As for other grants on the list, the statement said, the department is still conducting a wide-ranging review.
E&E News first reported last week that the DOE was creating a “hit list” of clean energy projects awarded billions of dollars that the Trump administration could wipe out.
The list, obtained by the AP, includes wind, solar, battery storage and electric vehicle infrastructure projects. It includes funding to help heavy industries transition away from fossil fuels and funding to decarbonize buildings. Many projects were funded through the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law Biden signed in 2021.
Separately, the Environmental Protection Agency terminated grant agreements this month worth $20 billion issued by the Biden administration under a so-called green bank to finance clean energy and climate-friendly projects. A federal judge has blocked the administration from ending the grant program for now.
U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, an Ohio Democrat, said halting clean energy projects will increase energy costs for families and businesses, and the Energy Department must carry out duly-enacted spending laws.
“We need the Department of Energy to work with us, not against us, to lower energy costs and help create good-paying jobs, but at a bare minimum, we demand the department to follow the law as intended,” Kaptur, the top Democrat of the House Appropriations energy subcommittee, said in a statement.
RMI has received government contracts and grants under Republican and Democratic administrations since its founding in 1982. Cappiello said that money has been used to help advance secure, reliable, efficient and clean energy solutions. The current administration’s actions will slow and could eventually halt the many benefits of moving a clean energy agenda forward, such as lowering energy costs, making communities resilient and creating jobs, she said in a statement.
Installation of renewable energy worldwide hit a record high last year, with 92.5% of all new electricity brought online coming from the sun, wind or other clean sources, according to a Wednesday report by the International Renewable Energy Agency. China led the way, with nearly 64% of the new renewable electricity capacity in 2024 installed there.
