FY2026 Spending Law Eliminates Three Federal Clean Energy Offices
March 3, 2026 · 2 min read
David Almeida
The FY2026 appropriations package now signed into law eliminates funding for three federal offices that collectively directed billions toward clean energy deployment and environmental justice. The Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, the DOE's Office of Energy Justice and Equity, and the EPA's Environmental Justice program were all zeroed out in the Commerce/Justice/Science, Energy/Water, and Interior/Environment bills that passed the House 397-28.
The Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, created under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, had managed over $20 billion in authorized funding for hydrogen hubs, carbon capture facilities, and advanced nuclear reactors. Its elimination halts new solicitations and removes the coordinating office, though already-awarded funds remain intact.
Where the Money Went Instead
The same bills directed over $20 billion toward nuclear weapons stockpile modernization, increased investment in critical minerals extraction and geothermal energy, boosted cybersecurity protections for the electrical grid, and added $63 million to the Drug Enforcement Administration for fentanyl enforcement.
Full funding was preserved for the Payment in Lieu of Taxes program and wildland fire management. The pattern is clear: Congress targeted Biden-era climate and equity initiatives specifically, not environmental spending as a whole.
Three Paths Forward for Clean Energy Grant Seekers
Organizations that relied on federal environmental justice or clean energy demonstration funding face a fundamentally different landscape. Already-awarded grants remain intact, but the pipeline for new federal solicitations in these areas has closed.
The alternatives are real but require strategic pivots. First, states with independent climate funds — California, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and others — remain well-capitalized and are expanding programs. Second, DOE's remaining offices, including the Loan Programs Office and ARPA-E, still fund clean energy work through different mechanisms and different application processes. Third, private foundations including Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Bezos Earth Fund, and the Heising-Simons Foundation have signaled accelerated clean energy grantmaking in response to federal pullbacks.
Tools like Granted can help organizations identify alternative funding sources across state, federal, and foundation programs as the clean energy funding map is redrawn.
For a full breakdown of alternative clean energy funding, visit the Granted blog.