EPA says 93% of climate law’s funds have been spent

By Kevin Bogardus | 01/13/2025 01:53 PM EST

President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to claw back unspent money under the Inflation Reduction Act.

President Joe Biden signs the Inflation Reduction Act in the White House.

President Joe Biden signs the Inflation Reduction Act in the White House on Aug. 16, 2022. Susan Walsh/AP

EPA has spent almost all of its cash under President Joe Biden’s signature climate law, which is now under threat from the incoming Trump administration.

The agency released a report Monday detailing its spending under the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The two laws, which will constitute much of the Biden administration’s legacy, appropriate over $100 billion to EPA, bolstering a number of programs that finance clean energy projects, aid disadvantaged communities struggling with pollution, clean up toxic waste sites and provide electric school buses.

EPA has obligated 93 percent or more than $38 billion of its $41.5 billion in funding from the IRA, according to the report. The climate law made a one-time appropriation to the agency, which has been moving at a furious pace to distribute the funds since Congress approved the measure in 2022.

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Zealan Hoover, a senior adviser to the EPA administrator and director of implementation, told reporters that the agency expects to award additional money by the end of this week, while remaining funds that spill over into President-elect Donald Trump’s term will be for management and oversight of those awards. He cited as an example EPA’s carbon labeling program, which backs manufacturing of low-emission construction materials.

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