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Summary:

On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order freezing the disbursement of funds appropriated through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). That executive order, along with multiple others signed that day, signaled a distinct shift in U.S. energy policy away from supporting clean energy and clean vehicle manufacturing and renewable electricity generation in America in favor of traditional fossil fuels and other technologies.

That shift culminated with President Trump’s signing of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) on July 4, 2025, which included major rollbacks of federal clean energy programs that were driving one of the biggest manufacturing and energy transitions in American history.

This report details the far-reaching economic impacts of clean energy investments cancelled by the private sector since the federal government began its attempts to slow or halt the growth of clean energy beginning in January 2025.

It builds on previous research by E2 and BW Research, based on publicly available information, showing the economy-wide job creation impact from the investments supported by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). These investments totaled at least $130 billion over two years in 338 major clean energy and electric vehicle projects that were directly tied to IRA legislation. All told, these projects were expected to create and support 621,000 jobs—including nearly 154,000 permanent jobs—throughout the economy (https://e2.org/reports/clean-economy-works-economic-impact-report-2024/)

New modeling from BW Research measures the broad lost economic benefits caused by cancelled, closed, or downsized clean energy projects since January 1, 2025. While the legislation itself has been a major setback to the U.S. transition to a cleaner economy, the Trump administration’s broader hostility toward clean energy – including permitting bans on solar and wind developments; government payoffs of companies to stop offshore wind projects and gutting of federal clean energy programs – has compounded the negative economic consequences of the OBBBA.

BW’s modeling shows that since January 1, 2025, large-scale clean energy manufacturing and generation projects canceled in the wake of this shift in US energy policy have cost the future US economy:

• 468,000 jobs, including more than 343,000 permanent jobs and 125,000 construction jobs
• $55 billion in lost GDP growth annually from cancelled manufacturing plants and other operations, in addition to $91 billion lost from cancelled construction work.
• $12 billion foregone in annual tax revenue for federal, state, and local governments, in addition to nearly $20 billion in lost tax revenues just from construction activities.
• $31 billion in lost annual wages for permanent workers

When new clean energy generation projects and manufacturing facilities are cancelled, closed, or downsized and thousands of jobs are lost from a community, fewer people are active in the local economy. Local restaurants sell fewer meals. Schools, fire departments and local public works projects miss out on new local tax revenues. Local manufacturers and wholesalers produce and sell fewer goods in a diminished local supply chain. Small businesses such as accounting firms, construction contractors, landscaping companies and caterers lose business opportunities.

Together, these lost direct and indirect jobs and investments tell a nationwide story of stalled progress in domestic manufacturing, clean energy production, transportation, and infrastructure modernization. They also reflect the broader economic costs of the policy and market shift away from clean energy that began in 2025—slowing private-sector momentum, delaying projects, and leaving communities without the jobs, investment, and economic benefits those projects were expected to deliver.

Key Findings

The cancellation, closure, or downsizing of 216 major clean energy projects tracked by E2 from January 1, 2025 through May 2026 represent a significant reduction in planned private-sector investment and the economic activity those projects would have supported during their construction and operations phases.

The modeling estimates that these projects would have supported 468,000 jobs, including approximately 124,500 construction jobs annually during the construction period and 343,500 jobs annually during the operational years of the projects.

Clean energy project setbacks result in an estimated $90.8 billion less in GDP from the cancelled construction phases, and another $55.1 billion less GDP annually from cancelled, closed, or downsized operations. By comparison, that’s a bigger economic impact than the nation’s spectator sports industry.[1]

Additionally, the cancellation, closure, or downsizing of these projects will result in $19.6 billion less in tax revenues for federal, state, and local governments from cancelled construction activity, and $12.0 billion less in tax revenues annually from reduced operations.

COMBINED JOBS, WAGE, TAX AND GDP REDUCTIONS FROM MAJOR CLEAN ENERGY PROJECT CANCELLATIONS, DOWNSIZES, AND CLOSURES SINCE 2025

$68.2 BILLION reduction in total private capital investments during construction phase
+ $48.4 BILLION reduction in annual investments during the operational life of projects

$53.3 BILLION reduction in labor income during construction phase
+ $31.1 BILLION reduction in labor income annually during the operational life of projects

$90.8 BILLION reduction in U.S. GDP during construction phase
+ $55.1 BILLION reduction in U.S. GDP lost annually during the operational life of projects

$19.6 BILLION reduction in tax revenue lost during construction phase
+ $12.0 BILLION reduction in tax revenue lost annually during the operational life of projects

124,511 fewer jobs supported each year for 5 years during construction phase
+ 343,390 fewer jobs supported annually during the operational life of projects

[1] The Spectator Sports (NAICS 7112) industry’s GDP contribution is $54.8 billion. Data as of 2024, from JobsEQ.

The U.S. is currently home 3.46 million Americans who work across the clean vehicle, renewable energy, energy efficiency, battery storage, grid modernization, and biofuel sectors, according to the latest annual employment analysis from BW Research and E2. And in just the first two years of the IRA, businesses announced $130 billion to fund nearly 340 major clean energy and clean vehicle projects that are expected to hire at least 110,000 new, mostly permanent, workers, according to analysis by E2.

The economic benefits from these projects reach well beyond the direct investments and jobs, however. According to separate modeling by BW Research, the projects announced in the first two years of the IRA will create 621,000 direct and indirect new jobs – including 154,000 permanent jobs – over the next five years. Just during the construction phase alone, these new projects would directly and indirectly add $237.5 billion to U.S. GDP; create $169.4 billion in new wages for workers, and generate nearly $50 billion in new tax revenue for federal, state, and local governments.

To gauge business sentiment on how repealing or rolling back the IRA would impact business investment, hiring, and expansion plans, BW Research focused its outreach on firms working with the following technologies: energy efficiency of buildings, renewable electricity generation, energy storage, grid, renewable fuels, and electric or alternative transportation. The survey captured impacts not just on new businesses or projects since the laws were signed but on long-established companies, with more than 60 percent of the surveyed firms saying they have been in business in the clean energy space for more than ten years.

The executive interviews conducted in parallel with the survey helped reveal other common themes that business owners and decision-makers have seen since the passage of the IRA, as well as key issues for them as they contemplate their businesses’ future. The stakeholder engagement process involved energy businesses in different technologies and regions of the country.

Lastly, the repeal or rollback of the IRA would have impacts that extend far beyond hiring, investment, and expansion plans. In addition to the benefits to businesses created by the IRA, the policy has sent a clear market signal for companies to invest, innovate, and expand in America.

If the policy is repealed, some executives surveyed said they would have to relocate their companies to another country. Others said they would go out of business entirely. Rural areas and small communities across America would be hurt the worst, since rural areas have seen the biggest uptick in clean energy projects, investments and jobs since the IRA.

Key Findings

• Repealing the IRA would hurt business or revenue.

• • More than half (53 percent) of firms said they would lose business or revenue as a direct result of an IRA repeal.
  • About 27 percent said they would lose projects or contracts.
  • About 21 percent of impacted firms said they would likely exit the clean energy space.
  • About 11 percent of firms said they would close their business entirely,
  • Nearly 9 percent of firms said they would have to relocate to another country.

• Businesses would have to lay off employees and cut wages.46 million Americans currently work in clean energy sectors and nearly 150,000 new jobs are being added every year.
  • About 21 percent of firms said they would have to lay off workers if the IRA is repealed.
  • Nearly 15 percent of firms said they would have to lay off 10 or more workers;
  • More than 10 percent of firms said they would have to lay off 25 or more workers.

• • About 13 percent said they’d have to freeze wages or rescind offers to prospective employees.

• The IRA is very important to business growth.
  • About 85 percent of respondents said the IRA was “very important” or “somewhat important” to growth.
  • Nearly 60 percent of respondents said have worked on, produced goods, or offered services related to clean energy projects directly impacted or funded by the IRA.
  • About 48 percent said that at least half of their business came from IRA-related projects.

Other Key Findings
(based on survey results and stakeholder interviews)

• The IRA has had a major impact on reducing risk and uncertainty in clean energy markets. A repeal would lead to drastic scaling back of projects and affect investor confidence in the industry.
• Rural areas and small communities would experience the largest negative effects of a repeal of the IRA. Rural regions have seen the biggest uptake in projects and economic benefits since the passing of the IRA.
• A repeal of the IRA would disrupt the rapid increase in solar and battery installations as a result of higher installation and materials costs, lower supply as smaller companies leave the market, and lower demand from customers.
• The IRA has led to the creation of good-quality jobs offering transition pathways for workers in fossil fuels and other industries, particularly in rural areas. The high rate of new project installations, also largely prevalent in rural areas, has brought about a high demand for skilled energy workers.