The Trump administration has canceled nearly $30 billion in Biden-era clean energy loans and is reviewing another $53 billion as part of a sweeping audit of the Department of Energyโs loan portfolio, Energy Secretary Chris Wright announced Friday.
The decision marks one of the most significant rollbacks yet of President Bidenโs green energy agenda and underscores the Trump administrationโs effort to redirect federal funding toward what it calls โaffordable, reliable, and secure American energy.โ
โOver the past year, the Energy Department individually reviewed our entire loan portfolio to ensure the responsible investment of taxpayer dollars,โ Wright said in a statement. โWe found more dollars were rushed out the door of the Loan Programs Office in the final months of the Biden administration than had been disbursed in over fifteen years.โ
The Energy Departmentโs Office of Energy Dominance Financing (EDF) โ a restructured version of Bidenโs Loan Programs Office โ said the funds were part of the โGreen New Scam loansโ that were hastily approved without sufficient oversight.
According to the department, roughly $9.5 billion in loans for wind and solar projects were eliminated outright and will be replaced by investments in natural gas expansion, small modular nuclear reactors, and upgrades to aging power plants. Wright said those changes will make energy โmore affordable and less dependent on foreign supply chains.โ
โPresident Trump promised to protect taxpayer dollars and expand Americaโs supply of affordable, reliable, and secure energy,โ Wright said. โTodayโs cancellations deliver on that commitment.โ
The review follows months of internal restructuring within the Department of Energy.
Since returning to office, the Trump administration has undertaken a broad effort to unwind what officials describe as politically motivated โgreen slush fundsโ created under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
More than $25 billion in BIL energy appropriations and $4.3 billion in IRA funds have remained unspent since Biden left office, while another $11 billion in IRA funding was rescinded under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) โ legislation signed by Trump to reclaim unused climate subsidies and redirect them toward domestic fossil fuel and nuclear development.
A senior Energy Department official said the administrationโs review found โsystemic failuresโ in how the Biden White House approved grants and loans in its final year.
โMany of these programs were riddled with conflicts of interest and lacked due diligence,โ the official said. โWe had companies receiving billions in federal financing that were weeks away from insolvency.โ
The scale of the cancellations is unprecedented. Since May 2025, DOE has rescinded or suspended over 340 clean energy awards valued at more than $11 billion, including major industrial demonstration grants and several of Bidenโs high-profile Hydrogen Hub projects in California, Oregon, and Minnesota.
In total, nearly 17 percent of all BIL-awarded funds and 7 percent of IRA awards have now been canceled under the Trump administrationโs review.
The Energy Department also confirmed that the Industrial Demonstration Program, a Biden-era initiative to subsidize green manufacturing, saw 18 of its 36 approved awards canceled outright โ amounting to nearly $3 billion in rescinded commitments.
Wright argued that those programs failed to produce measurable results. โWe cannot keep throwing taxpayer money at corporate handouts that donโt deliver energy security or economic value,โ he said.
Still, Wright and his team insist the shift reflects a broader realignment of national priorities.
Under President Trump, the Energy Departmentโs new Energy Dominance Financing (EDF) office holds $289 billion in loan authority, which will prioritize projects tied to nuclear power, carbon capture, and modernized natural gas infrastructure.
In October, the department canceled another $8 billion in green grants, halting 223 projects across 16 states after what Wright called โa thorough, individualized review.โ Those funds are now being redirected toward rural energy development, critical mineral extraction, and coal plant modernization efforts.
