Donald Trump wants to claw back clean energy funding

The Trump administration sent a memo instructing federal agencies to pause grant, loan, and other financial assistance programs. It’s a catch-all for a wide range of programs President Donald Trump has crusaded against and it’s unclear what specifically is in the crosshairs with this move, but it seems to target Biden-era programs to deploy clean energy.

But just before the funding freeze was set to take effect on Tuesday, a federal judge paused it until February 3rd at 5 PM, and could extend the pause after a hearing on Monday. The administrative stay will let the government continue to disburse only funds that have already been authorized. The freeze was supposed to stop funds for policies Trump rolled back through executive orders, “including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal.”

There is no single policy in place across the federal government named “the green new deal.” But Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law in 2022, which created $369 billion in federal funding for climate action and clean energy. Trump, meanwhile, campaigned on a promise to rescind any unspent IRA funds. The 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law also includes $50 billion to address the impacts of climate change and cyberattacks on national infrastructure, and $73 billion for upgrading the power grid.

Agencies are supposed to temporarily pause disbursement of funds by 5:00PM ET today. By February 10th they’re supposed to tell the Office of Management and Budget which programs and activities are affected by the freeze. The memo calls “green new deal social engineering policies” and money used to advance social equity, including funds to assist transgender people, “a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve.”

Some Democratic Congressmembers are challenging the freeze as unlawful, according to NBC News, which obtained the memo.

“Congress approved these investments and they are not optional; they are the law,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said in a statement. “They say this is only temporary, but no one should believe that. Donald Trump must direct his Administration to reverse course immediately and the taxpayers’ money should be distributed to the people.”

The Department of Energy did not immediately responded to inquiries from The Verge about what programs might be affected. In an email to The Verge, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said that it’s “temporarily pausing all activities related to the obligation or disbursement of EPA Federal financial assistance at this time.“

Anticipating Trump’s efforts to dismantle its programs, the Biden administration scrambled to release much of the funding from the Inflation Reduction Act before leaving office.

“On the unspent funds, we are at a place where we’re north of $9 out of every $10 of grant funding and other similar dollars that have already hit the economic bloodstream across the country,” Biden’s national climate adviser Ali Zaidi told The Verge earlier this month.

Update, January 28th: A federal judge has temporarily paused Trump’s order.