Energy Department to Return $13 Billion in Unused Climate Funds to Taxpayers

The department says unobligated money will be sent back to Treasury, fulfilling pledge to halt ’reckless spending' on climate programs.

Solar panels at a facility in Deport, Texas, on July 15, 2021. Drone Base/Reuters

The Energy Department has announced it will return more than $13 billion in unobligated climate funds to the Treasury, marking one of the Trump administration’s most significant reversals of President Joe Biden’s green-energy agenda.

The department said on Sept. 24 that the money had been set aside under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act enacted by the Biden administration. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the step fulfills President Donald Trump’s pledge to redirect resources to the department’s “core mission.”