Energy Department plans to claw back $13B in green funds

The Energy Department is planning to claw back $13 billion in unspent climate funds, it announced Wednesday. 

In a press release, the department said it plans to “return more than $13 billion in unobligated funds initially appropriated to advance the previous Administration’s wasteful Green New Scam agenda.”

The press release did not specify exactly where the money would have otherwise gone or what it will be used for now, if anything. Spokespeople for the Energy Department did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for additional information.

Asked about the money during The New York Times’s Climate Forward event Wednesday, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the funds “hadn’t been assigned to projects yet” but that they were aimed at subsidizing more wind and solar energy as well as electric vehicles. 

The Trump administration has repeatedly sought to curtail spending on renewable energy — and set up barriers that hamper its deployment — while trying to expedite fossil fuels and nuclear power. 

The Energy Department has made several attempts to cut climate spending, including previous funding rescissions. 

The Environmental Protection Agency has separately sought to rescind billions of its own climate spending that was issued under the Biden administration.