Investment in the U.S. clean energy and transportation sectors appears to be slowing down, as data begins to reflect the months of uncertainty and recent policy changes that have come with the Trump administration.
The second quarter of 2025 saw a total of $68 billion in investments, according to a new report released today by the Clean Investment Monitor, a joint project of the Rhodium Group and MIT’s Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research. The number represents a 1% increase compared to the same period last year — but it is the third consecutive quarterly decline recorded since President Trump was elected in November 2024.
Investment in manufacturing, in particular, is in decline. The clean manufacturing sector saw a 15% and 19% decrease compared to the first quarter of 2025 and the second quarter of 2024, respectively. Battery manufacturing specifically is down 22% compared to the same period last year, and solar manufacturing is down 25%.
Between April and June, companies canceled the equivalent of $5 billion in manufacturing projects; that’s in addition to the record $7 billion in cancellations that occurred during the first quarter of the year, mostly in electric vehicles and battery manufacturing. Another $5 billion projects were cancelled in the clean electricity and decarbonization sectors.
These findings mirror those of other recent reports, including an analysis by research group E2, which found that at least 35 clean energy projects have been closed, cancelled, or downsized since Trump took office, more than the totals for 2023 and 2024 combined.
And at least in manufacturing, these cancellations are not being offset by new projects. Companies announced only $4 billion in new projects in the second quarter of 2025, marking the first quarter when the value of cancellations exceeded new announcements.
Generally, the report also found a decrease in new project announcements across all sectors. Compared to last year, the average number of new announced projects per quarter was down 44% for manufacturing, 38% for industrial decarbonization, and 28% for utility electricity.
$517 billion on the line
The report provides a snapshot of how the clean energy sector is faring after months of policy uncertainty that culminated in the signing of the One Big Beautiful Bill into law in early July. The slowdown in growth, however, is likely to persist, given that the new legislation slashed clean energy subsidies, shortened tax incentives eligibility timelines for qualifying projects, and introduced new “foreign entity of concern” rules restricting sourcing.
These measures are bound to impact $517 billion in outstanding investments in clean energy and transportation projects that are not yet online, according to the report.
Of those, $112 billion are manufacturing investments, heavily concentrated in the EV supply chain, including batteries and critical minerals projects. These will probably suffer from the addition of FEOC rules, as well as from the loss of federal tax credits for the purchase of new and used EVs. Meanwhile, $171 billion are outstanding solar and wind investments, which are now obliged to either start construction by July 2026 or else come online before 2027 to still be eligible for credits.
Technologies like sustainable aviation fuel and hydrogen have received more favorable treatment from the current administration. Still, outstanding projects in those categories are also likely to be impacted by the changes in policy, with $56 billion in SAF projects having to source feedstock from within North America starting in 2026 to qualify for credits, and $47 billion in hydrogen projects having to start construction by the end of 2027.
Finally, $3 billion of outstanding investment in novel technologies such as low-carbon iron, steel, and cement is at risk because of the terminations of some of DOE’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstration awards.
