The department says unobligated money will be sent back to Treasury, fulfilling pledge to halt ’reckless spending’ on climate programs.
The Energy Department has announced it will return more than $13 billion in unobligated climate funds to the Treasury, marking one of the Trump administration’s most significant reversals of President Joe Biden’s green-energy agenda.
The department said on Sept. 24 that the money had been set aside under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act enacted by the Biden administration. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the step fulfills President Donald Trump’s pledge to redirect resources to the department’s “core mission.”
“The American people elected President Trump largely because of the last administration’s reckless spending on climate policies that fed inflation and failed to provide any real benefit to the American people,” Wright said in a statement. “By returning these funds to the American taxpayer, the Trump administration is affirming its commitment to advancing more affordable, reliable and secure American energy and being more responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars.”
The announcement follows the passage earlier this year of the Working Families Tax Cut, which directed agencies to identify and return unobligated funds. Energy officials said Wednesday’s announcement meets that requirement while paving the way for a refocus on conventional energy priorities.
The Inflation Reduction Act routed hundreds of billions of dollars toward clean-energy initiatives, with a price tag approaching $1 trillion over a decade. Since returning to the office in January, Trump has sought to roll back much of that agenda.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has already terminated a $7 billion solar-grant program and moved to dismantle the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a $20 billion “green bank” created to finance alternative-energy projects.
The EPA cited concerns about fraud, conflicts of interest, and lack of oversight in terminating the grants earlier this year. Administrator Lee Zeldin in February likened the program to “tossing gold bars off the Titanic,” citing remarks from a Biden-era political appointee using the analogy for EPA’s allocation of funding.
Litigation has followed. Nonprofit groups that had been awarded money under the fund sued, alleging that they were unlawfully cut off, saying the freeze jeopardized their operations. A federal district judge initially blocked the administration from reclaiming the money. But in early September, an appeals court ruled that the EPA could rescind $16 billion in grants, overturning the lower court’s order.
By Tom Ozimek
