Did the Trump Administration Hinder Renewable Energy Growth?

Fossil Fuel Sector Celebrates as Trump Administration Rolls Back Clean Energy Advances

Upon Donald Trump’s re-entry to the White House in January 2025, the fossil fuel sector found a powerful ally. A year and a half later, the United States’ trajectory towards clean energy has been significantly disrupted in a manner that is quantifiable and in some scenarios, irreversible within the decade. Yet, the global shift towards greener energy solutions, propelled equally by market forces and policy, has demonstrated greater resilience than the Trump administration might have expected.

A Rapid Retreat from Clean Energy

In a striking move, the Sabin Center’s Climate Backtracker recorded nearly 300 federal actions aimed at reversing progress in climate and clean energy within the first year of Trump’s term in 2026. The administration declared a “national energy emergency” on its first day, enacted executive orders to enable the extraction of oil and gas in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, scrapped environmental impact reviews from the Biden era, and omitted the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy from the Department of Energy’s official structure. The administration has not withheld its disparaging rhetoric towards renewable energy, with Trump labelling wind turbines as “pathetic and so bad”, portraying them as harmful to people, and undermining solar as unreliable.

Legislation Deals a Heavy Blow to Clean Energy

The most significant blow struck by the administration has been in the form of legislation. In July 2025, Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law, effectively dismantling the Inflation Reduction Act’s tax framework for clean energy. This law erases the production and investment tax credit for new wind and solar projects that begin construction after July 4, 2026 and are not implemented by December 31, 2027. The residential solar credit was terminated at the end of 2025, while the advanced manufacturing credit for wind components will cease by 2027. The clean hydrogen credit’s expiration date was also brought forward by five years.

The Market’s Continued Support for Renewable Energy

Despite these setbacks, the majority of new power generation capacity installed in the U.S. in 2025 was from renewable sources. Investment in clean energy continued to surpass that in fossil fuels, with solar now competitive on pricing without the need for subsidies. The data centre buildout, driven by artificial intelligence, has led to a surge in electricity demand, bolstering the market for solar and wind energy. This is a paradoxical situation, as Trump’s advocacy for AI is at odds with his administration’s anti-renewable energy stance.

China Seizes the Opportunity as Trump Pushes Allies Towards Fossil Fuels

Internationally, the Trump administration has manipulated energy as a geopolitical tool, pressuring allies to scale back on green ambitions. As the U.S. exits from global climate agreements and organisations, the European Union, Japan, South Korea, and Indonesia have committed to importing significant quantities of U.S. liquefied natural gas. Meanwhile, China is filling in the gap left by the U.S. in the clean tech market, deepening its involvement in solar manufacturing, battery supply chains, grid equipment, and electric vehicle exports.

The Long-Term Impact of Trump’s Policies

Perhaps the most damaging aspect of the Trump administration’s actions is the institutional decay they have caused. The dismissal of tens of thousands of federal employees from environmental and climate research bodies has eroded the government’s ability to understand and respond to the energy transition. The investment disruption is likely to have long-lasting effects, with project cancellations and abandonments taking years to rectify. The administration’s actions have potentially delayed America’s energy transition by five to ten years, narrowing the window for the world to avoid catastrophic climate change scenarios.