The US Department of Energy has announced the termination of $3.7 billion in grants allocated to clean energy projects during the Biden administration. These grants, awarded through the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED), were reviewed and deemed economically unviable by the current administration.
In total, the DOE has cancelled 24 grants. The department noted that two-thirds of these were finalised between the 2024 election and Trump’s inauguration. The majority of the projects aimed at carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) as well as decarbonisation initiatives. Among the cancelled projects were $500 million for a Heidelberg Materials carbon capture initiative, $330 million for Exxon Mobil’s clean hydrogen project, and $375 million for a plastic recycling endeavour by Eastman Chemical.
This move is one of several by the Trump administration aimed at rolling back the Biden administration’s efforts to fund clean energy and decarbonisation projects. The OCED was launched by the DOE in 2021, following the passage of the [Bipartisan Infrastructure Law](https://www.esgtoday.com/biden-signs-infrastructure-deal-energy-transition-investment-highlights/), which allocated over $20 billion for clean energy demonstration and research projects. The launch marked a crucial step in advancing towards the Biden administration’s targets of achieving carbon-free electricity by 2035 and a net-zero carbon economy by 2050.
US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright justified the cancellations, stating that the projects “failed to advance the energy needs of the American people, were not economically viable and would not generate a positive return on investment of taxpayer dollars.”
Wright further commented: “While the previous administration failed to conduct a thorough financial review before signing away billions of taxpayer dollars, the Trump administration is doing our due diligence to ensure we are utilising taxpayer dollars to strengthen our national security, bolster affordable, reliable energy sources and advance projects that generate the highest possible return on investment. Today, we are acting in the best interest of the American people by cancelling these 24 awards.”
The Trump administration’s decision has been met with criticism from energy transition groups, who argue that it hampers the US’s progress in crucial decarbonisation technologies. Conrad Schneider, US Senior Director of the Clean Air Task Force (CATF), remarked: “Today’s action is bad for US competitiveness in the global market and also directly contradictory to the administration’s stated goals of supporting energy production and environmental innovation. Cancelling cutting-edge technology demonstrations, including support for carbon capture and storage projects, undercuts US competitiveness at a time when there is a growing global market for cleaner industrial products and technologies.”
