Energy Outlook

By: Jacob Kim

Donald Trump’s inauguration isn’t just a political shift—it’s a direct threat to the future of clean energy and climate action. The writing is already on the wall: clean industry investment collapsed by nearly 60% in 2024, and with Trump back in office, it’s about to get worse. Billions in federal funding for green steel, carbon capture, and clean hydrogen are now frozen in political limbo. If these cuts hold, America will not just stall in the clean energy transition—it will actively fall behind while the rest of the world moves forward.

This isn’t speculation. The last time Trump was in power, he gutted environmental protections, pulled out of the Paris Agreement, and waged a war on renewables in favor of fossil fuels. Now, in his first move back in office, he’s already obstructing key funding streams meant to decarbonize heavy industry—one of the hardest and most essential sectors to clean up. Industrial decarbonization projects are not luxuries; they are the only way to tackle emissions from steel, cement, and chemicals—industries responsible for 30% of global CO₂ output. If these sectors don’t get the investment they need now, we won’t just slow down the fight against climate change, we will lose precious years we don’t have.

We’re facing a deliberate sabotage of the clean energy transition. Unlike wind and solar, which have become cost-competitive, clean industrial tech still relies on policy support to scale. Investors need clarity, long-term incentives, and stable leadership to justify billion-dollar commitments in industries like hydrogen-based steelmaking and carbon capture. But under Trump, stability is gone, replaced by uncertainty, obstruction, and a government more interested in lining oil executives’ pockets than building a future powered by clean energy.

The numbers prove it: in 2023, companies poured $40.2 billion into clean steel. In 2024, that plummeted to $17.3 billion—and that was before Trump took office. Now? Expect further decline, as corporations pause, delay, or cancel projects that no longer have government backing. Expect more U.S. companies to fall behind European and Chinese competitors, who are getting more government support, not less. Expect the world’s second-largest emitter to retreat from the fight at the worst possible moment.

Meanwhile, other countries aren’t waiting. Europe is launching a “clean industrial deal.” China is rewriting its steel regulations to push for greener furnaces. The U.S.? It’s stuck in a political chokehold, watching once-promising industrial decarbonization projects crumble as funding disappears.

If this continues, Trump’s legacy won’t just be a slowdown in clean energy—it will be a full-blown climate disaster. The global energy transition will move forward with or without the U.S., but instead of leading, we’ll be scrambling to catch up, locked into outdated fossil fuel infrastructure while the world passes us by.

There is no excuse for inaction. The technology exists. The funding was there. The only thing standing in the way is political cowardice and greed. Every dollar Trump’s administration blocks, every investment that vanishes, every project that gets shelved is a choice—a choice to prop up dying industries instead of investing in the future.

We are at a crossroads. Either we fight for clean energy investment now, or we let this administration drag us backward into an oil-soaked past. If we fail, history won’t look kindly on the people who stood by and let it happen.