Trump’s clean energy attacks are costing the US jobs

Since President Trump took office in January 2025, 216 major clean energy projects have been canceled, closed, or scaled back, according to a new report from the advocacy group E2. The group says those cancellations add up to nearly half a million lost potential jobs. Most weren't permanent factory or plant jobs — the bulk were construction work or jobs at nearby businesses that would have served new clean energy sites, from building suppliers to restaurants.

The pullback follows a boom sparked by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which funded a wave of solar, wind, EV, and battery projects along with new domestic factories to build that equipment. That growth stalled once Trump won the 2024 election, as companies grew wary of his opposition to renewables, especially wind, and pulled back investment even before Congress later cut back the law's incentives. Electric vehicles have taken the biggest hit, hurt further by the loss of federal purchase discounts.

None of this points to a specific program change or deadline for homeowners. But it reflects a broader retreat in federal support for clean energy and EVs, which is worth keeping in mind if you're weighing an upgrade that depended on federal incentives. Some parts of the clean energy business are still expanding — solar manufacturing and battery storage factories are growing — even as the EV and broader clean energy job market cools nationally.