Latest news with #climatefunding
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
EPA says Trump's big bill should help in its fight to freeze billions in green bank funds
WASHINGTON (AP) — The sprawling tax and policy bill that passed Congress repeals a multibillion-dollar green bank for financing climate-friendly projects, and the Trump administration should be allowed to freeze its funding and cancel related contracts with nonprofits, federal officials said in a court filing. Climate United Fund and other nonprofits in March sued the Environmental Protection Agency, its administrator Lee Zeldin and Citibank, which held the program's money. The lawsuit argued the defendants had illegally denied the groups access to billions awarded last year through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, commonly referred to as a 'green bank.' The program was created by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. But the bill that passed Congress on Thursday would repeal the part of the 2022 law that established the green bank and rescind money that hadn't already been obligated to its recipients. The EPA said the bill should hand them a victory in their court fight that is being heard by a federal appeals court in Washington. Now that Congress has rescinded funding, an earlier federal judge's decision forcing the EPA to release money to the groups should be reversed, the agency said in its Thursday court filing. Climate United Fund disagrees. It acknowledges that the bill in Congress is a 'significant policy setback' but argues that most of the money had been disbursed and is unaffected by the bill. And if the EPA wanted to take the money back, there's a different process the agency would need to follow. 'Our funds have already been obligated and disbursed. Any effort to claim otherwise is simply a lie to justify illegal attempts to claw back funds intended to benefit communities across the country,' CEO Beth Bafford said in a statement. According to the EPA, when the agency terminated the grants the funds 'became unobligated.' 'Grantees have desperately performed legal gymnastics to hold tens of billions of taxpayer dollars hostage. In the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill, Congress made their intent crystal clear in repealing the program entirely and returning those billions in unobligated funds to the U.S. Treasury,' EPA spokesperson Brigit Hirsch said in a statement. The green bank's goals run counter to the Trump administration's opposition to policies that address climate change and its embrace of fossil fuels. Zeldin quickly made the bank a target, characterizing the $20 billion in grants as a scheme marred by conflicts of interest and potential fraud. In February, Zeldin told Fox News that he suspected the green bank 'was a clear cut case of waste and abuse' that 'in my opinion, is criminal.' The following month, Zeldin terminated the grants. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan has previously said that when the federal government was asked for evidence of fraud, the agency didn't provide it and shifted its position. Chutkan decided the government can't terminate the contracts and that the groups should have access to some of their frozen money. That order was put on hold during the EPA's appeal. The agency argues the nonprofits are making constitutional and statutory arguments that don't apply in what it sees as a simple contract fight. If the government successfully argues the case is a contract dispute, then the EPA says it should be heard by a different court that can only award a lump sum – not force the government to keep the grants in place. Federal officials argue there is no law or provision in the Constitution that compels the EPA to make these grants to these groups. In its court filing, the EPA also pointed to comments by Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, chair of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, as supportive of the agency's position. Capito said previously the bill intended to rescind billions in funding that had been frozen. 'This action reflects not only Congress's deep concern with reducing the deficit, but EPA's administration of the (green bank) under the Biden administration, the agency's selection of grant recipients, and the absence of meaningful program oversight," the agency quotes the senator as saying. ___ The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP's environmental coverage, visit
Reuters
3 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Trump's budget bill boosts fossil fuels, hits renewable energy
WASHINGTON, July 2 (Reuters) - The budget bill the U.S. Senate passed on Tuesday and the House of Representatives is now debating for final approval would dampen development of wind and solar power, kill climate funding and boost oil, gas and coal output. Below are some details about the bill's provisions on energy development and the environment: The legislation sharply reduces access to a 30% tax credit for solar and wind power projects that had been set to run until 2032, and which developers had relied on for future projects. To access the subsidy, projects must now start service by late 2027, one year earlier than proposed in the House bill, or begin construction within a year of the bill's adoption. Using the credits would also require new standards on the origin of manufactured components used in the projects, in part to boost domestic manufacturing and reduce dependence on China. Clean manufacturing projects such as solar panel or battery manufacturing seeking a production tax credit from January 1, 2026 onward also need to meet those material-sourcing requirements. The Senate bill preserves tax credits for nuclear, hydropower and geothermal projects if they start construction by 2033. Those forms of power generation are favored by the Trump administration, in part because they do not rely on weather conditions to produce. Tax credits for clean hydrogen could be used until the end of 2027, two years longer than the House had proposed. The Senate bill maintains the carbon capture and storage tax credit proposed by the Senate finance committee that creates parity between credit levels for carbon utilization projects and those storing captured CO2 underground and preserves the credits for existing nuclear plants. Under the Senate bill, developers of renewable hydrogen and nuclear power, and carbon capture, can still sell their credits to third parties in order to raise capital to finance projects. The bill rescinds all unobligated funding from former President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act from the $20 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. It also will rescind unspent grant funding allocated to the Department of Energy by the IRA for transmission deployment and siting, low-carbon construction materials, programs to decarbonize buildings, money allocated to help oil and gas companies to reduce their methane emissions, and tribal energy loans. Tax credits for households that want to make energy-efficient home improvements can only be used for projects that are completed by the end of 2025. For energy efficiency credits for commercial buildings, developers would need to start construction by June 30, 2026. The House version did not include the elimination of the buildings' tax credit. The bill mandates four sales of oil and gas drilling rights by 2032 in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Reserve that's home to endangered and threatened species such as polar bears. A January ANWR lease sale required by a law passed in Trump's first administration drew zero bids. The bill mandates five lease sales by 2035 in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and nullifies Biden's leasing limits set in 2022. The Senate bill would allow four year non-renewable drilling permits on federal lands. Such permits are currently subject to annual renewals. The bill also streamlines leasing and prohibits some measures meant to limit environmental damage. It requires 30 offshore lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico over 15 years. The Trump administration has named the area the Gulf of America. The bill provides $24.6 billion for the U.S. Coast Guard's procurement of icebreakers, airplanes and ports, much of which could be used in development of Arctic oil, gas and minerals. Senators attached a last-minute measure that could benefit miners of coal for steel making. It would allow producers of metallurgical coal to claim an advanced manufacturing production tax credit available for critical minerals. The credit for 2.5% of production costs is potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars to coal companies. The bill would also reduce royalty rates the coal industry must pay when mining on public lands from 12.5% to 7% and expand leasing on federal lands by 4 million acres (1,618,740 hectares) OIL RESERVE The bill runs counter to Trump's plans to quickly replenish the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, slashing the amount of money available for purchases. It offers funding that would now cover only about 3 million barrels of purchases, instead of about 20 million. It also cancels a mandated sale from the SPR of about 7 million barrels. The U.S. conducted a historic sale of 180 million barrels in 2022 after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Al Jazeera
28-06-2025
- Business
- Al Jazeera
Pakistan facing ‘crisis of injustice' in fight against climate change
Pakistan's climate change minister has slammed the 'crisis of injustice' facing the country and a 'lopsided allocation' of funding as heavy rains and the latest flash flooding cause more damage, destruction and loss of life. Officials in Pakistan said at least 32 people have been killed in the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces since the start of the monsoon season. Last month, at least 32 people were also killed in severe storms in a country that has reported extreme weather events in the spring, including strong hailstorms. The Climate Rate Index report in 2025 put Pakistan top of the list of the most affected countries based on 2022 data. Then, extensive flooding submerged approximately a third of the country, affecting 33 million people – including killing more than 1,700, and caused $14.8bn worth of damages, as well as $15.2bn of economic losses. Last year, more floods affected thousands, and a heatwave killed almost 600 people. 'I don't look at this as a crisis of climate. I look at this as a crisis of justice and this lopsided allocation that we are talking about,' Pakistan's climate change minister, Musadiq Malik, told Al Jazeera. 'This lopsided allocation of green funding, I don't look at it as a funding gap. I look at it as a moral gap.' Funding shortfall Earlier this year, a former head of the country's central bank said Pakistan needed an annual investment of $40 to $50bn until 2050 to meet its looming climate change challenges despite being responsible for about half a percent of global CO2 emissions. In January 2023, pledges worth about $10bn from multilateral financial institutions and countries were reported. The following year, Pakistan received $2.8bn from international creditors against those pledges. Earlier this year, the International Monetary Fund said Pakistan will receive $1.3bn under a new climate resilience loan programme, which will span 28 months. But Malik said those pledges and loans were not enough given the situation Pakistan finds itself in. 'Two countries in the world [China and United States of America] produce 45 percent of the carbon emissions. The fact that the top 10 countries of the world account for almost 70 percent of the carbon burden is also something people are aware of. But 85 percent of the world's green financing is going to the same 10 countries, while the rest of the world – some 180-odd countries – are getting 10 to 15 percent green financing. 'We are paying for it through these erratic climate changes, floods, agriculture devastation.' According to a study done last year by the climate change ministry and Italian research institute EvK2CNR, Pakistan is home to 13,000-plus glaciers. However, the gradual rise in temperatures is also forcing the melting of those glaciers, increasing the risk of flooding, damage to infrastructure, loss of life and land, threat to communities and water scarcity. 'In addition to land and life, flooding [due to glacier melt] swept away thousands of years of civilisation [in Sindh province]. The mosques, temples, schools, hospitals, old buildings, monuments, everything got washed away. 'Add to that the loss of education and access to health care, safe drinking water, waterborne diseases, lack of access to hospitals and clinics, and infant mortality,' the report said. Last month, Amnesty International said in a report that 'Pakistan's healthcare and disaster response systems are failing to meet the needs of children and older people who are most at risk of death and disease amid extreme weather events related to climate change'. 'Children and older people in Pakistan are suffering on the front line of the climate crisis, exposed to extreme heat or floods that lead to disproportionate levels of death and disease,' said Laura Mills, researcher with Amnesty International's Crisis Response Programme. This story was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center.
