Since President Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20th, 2025, the new administration has issued a spate of executive orders and administrative actions that pose threats to Illinois clean energy development, jobs, environmental justice, and workers’ rights. These actions include:
- Pausing the disbursal of funds from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), pending review.
- Issuing a freeze on new federal offshore wind leasing and a pause on permitting for existing federal wind leases.
- Repealing several Biden administration executive orders on climate change, including electric vehicle sales goals and the Justice40 Initiative, which committed 40% of all federal climate and energy investments to disadvantaged communities.
- Withdrawing the United States from the Paris Climate Accord, a pact with most other countries in the world to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
- Declaring a “national energy emergency” and doubling down on oil and gas expansion.
- Issuing, then rescinding, a memo attempting to halt the flow of federal funding, including clean energy funding.
- Issuing new tariffs on imports from China, potentially driving up costs and disrupting supply chains for renewable energy and climate technologies.
- Issuing a Department of Energy (DOL) memo suspending grant-funded activities related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); Community Benefits Plans (CBP); and Justice40 requirements.
- Ordering large-scale reductions in federal departments and agencies (including those administering clean energy programs) through firings, hiring freezes, and buyouts to resign.
- Issuing a memo to more than 1,000 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) employees with probationary status, warning them that they could be dismissed immediately, limiting EPA’s ability to function.
- Issuing a regulatory freeze to agencies proposing new rules, pending review. This freeze applies, among other things, to a broad range of OSHA activity, including rulemaking related to heat illness and emergency response.
- Illegally firing the acting chair of the National Labor Relations Board, rendering it unable to function.
These actions demonstrate that the Trump Administration is fundamentally opposed to climate action and clean energy investments, despite the jobs and economic opportunities these investments create. These actions also demonstrate a concerted effort to weaken the federal agencies that protect workers, communities, and the environment.
In this time of chaos and uncertainty, there is much that we don’t know. Will paused clean energy funding eventually be released? Will legal challenges, public outcry, and legislative action preserve these investments? Which clean energy investments are most vulnerable? How will federal agencies’ ability to function be impacted by these actions? To what extent will labor and equity provisions embedded in federal clean energy programs be removed?
How will these changes impact clean energy jobs in Illinois?
Federal funding for clean energy projects, promised to Illinois businesses, communities, and organizations, has been paused while the administration reviews programs and guidelines. Federal agencies have 90 days to submit reviews and spending recommendations to the Office of Management and Budget and National Economic Council. The funding pause means that even grant recipients with committed funding and projects under development must wait, uncertain whether the funding will materialize.
A 2024 report by the Climate Jobs National Resource Center estimated that there were 186 large-scale clean energy generation and storage projects in Illinois in the development pipeline that could be eligible for tax incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act. These projects represent a job creation potential of over 52,000 quality jobs. Many of these jobs could be at risk if funding is not released.
In addition to large-scale renewable energy development, Inflation Reduction Act funding provides grants, tax incentives and rebates for home energy electrification, energy efficiency, electric vehicles, clean school buses, and more. Biden clean energy investments have helped to bring electric vehicle and battery manufacturers to Illinois. If these federal investments disappear, Illinois can expect less job growth in the clean energy sector, especially if manufacturing facilities close their doors and projects dry up.
Job quality and equitable workforce development are also at risk. The Inflation Reduction Act includes equity provisions and high-road labor standards aimed at creating quality jobs and a qualified, diverse workforce in disadvantaged communities. Recipients receiving funding for clean energy projects are being asked by the Department of Energy to suspend all activities associated with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and Community Benefits Plans. Recipients have been notified that costs associated with these activities will not be reimbursed.
Labor standards such as contractor minimum wage rates, prevailing wage and apprenticeship incentives and Project Labor Agreement provisions have not yet been targeted, but past Trump Administration actions suggest they could be on the chopping block.
Illinois is well-positioned to fight back and mitigate these actions.
The Illinois Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA) provides robust funding for clean energy projects and has strong equity, labor, and workforce commitments. The state may need to step in to address funding shortfalls to preserve jobs and meet our clean energy goals. It will be more important than ever that Illinois continue its commitment to clean energy, equitable workforce development, and high labor standards, outlined in CEJA.
The Illinois Climate Jobs Institute is monitoring these federal developments, with a focus on their impact on Illinois workers and communities. We are committed to guiding state climate policy so that Illinois can continue its leadership in climate action, equitable economic growth, and strong labor standards.
By Roshan Krishnan, Research Specialist, and Linda Larsen, Associate Director of Research