At least 10 climate and clean energy programs have been shut down within the U.S. Agency for International Development as the Trump administration continues its effort to shutter the agency.
The programs were included in a spreadsheet of canceled initiatives that was obtained by POLITICO’s E&E News. It’s just one of several spreadsheets containing closed programs that are being circulated within the mostly inactive agency, according to an agency employee who was granted anonymity to speak without retaliation.
It’s unclear how many climate-related programs, altogether, have been shut down within USAID since President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk announced their intention to disband the agency.
The spreadsheet containing canceled programs includes a nearly $85 million, five-year award aimed at increasing access to affordable, clean energy in southern Africa, as well as services that benefit from electrification, such as health and education.
It also lists an $18.7 million program to strengthen Nepal’s power sector, improve energy efficiency and increase electric vehicle adoption, and a $12 million program to strengthen electric utilities so they can take advantage of clean energy auctions and other opportunities to transition to sources like solar.
The canceled projects are part of a wave of cuts taking place at the embattled agency. The Trump administration ordered a 90-day freeze on foreign aid so officials could review whether projects align with Trump’s America First policy. A court battle is playing out to restart billions of dollars in funding.
A federal judge on Feb. 13 ordered the administration to restore funds for foreign aid programs, but that hasn’t happened, according to the USAID staffer.
The State Department, which is currently overseeing the agency, said each program is undergoing a review with the goal of restructuring assistance to serve U.S. interests.
“Programs that serve our nation’s interests will continue. However, programs that aren’t aligned with our national interest will not,” a State Departmemt spokesperson said in an email to E&E News.
Some funding termination orders included awards with terms like “energy” and “consulting,” according to a motion filed Wednesday in a lawsuit that seeks to hold top State Department officials in contempt over the funding freeze.
The Trump administration on Thursday denied that it had violated the federal restraining order, arguing that the judge’s order “clearly and unambiguously” gives it the authority to oversee contracts and grants, including terminating them.
Judge Amir Ali of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia late Thursday ordered the administration to abide by his ruling but stopped short of holding administration officials in contempt.
Ali wrote that his temporary restraining order does not restrain the agency from exercising its legal authority but warned that it also “does not permit defendants to simply search for and invoke new legal authorities.”
He said his Feb. 13 order was “clear” and that officials should not try to evade it.
“The court was not inviting defendants to continue the suspension while they reviewed contracts and legal authorities to come up with a new, post-hoc rationalization for the en masse suspension,” the Biden appointee wrote. ” To the extent defendants have continued the blanket suspension, they are ordered to immediately cease it.”
Reporter Lesley Clark contributed.
