New Report: 67% of Appalachia’s Projected Clean Energy Jobs at Risk as Federal & Private Investments Flatline
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Analysis Shows Clean Energy Investments Dropped from $4.7 Billion Peak to Stagnation Under Trump Administration, Threatening Over 61,000 Good-Paying Jobs
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APPALACHIA — A new report released this month by ReImagine Appalachia reveals that 67% of the region’s 92,282 projected clean energy jobs — over 61,000 jobs — are now at risk following dramatic policy shifts under the Trump administration. “Tracking the Appalachian Impacts: What’s on the Line as Federal Funding Flatlines” documents how clean energy investments across Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky have flatlined after historic growth, threatening transformative economic opportunities in Appalachian communities.
The comprehensive analysis tracks quarterly data from 2018 through Q3 2025, examining both federal and private investments across three major categories: energy and industry deployment, clean energy manufacturing, and retail purchases of greenhouse gas-reducing technologies. The report shows that investments, which had tripled from 2021 to 2024, peaking at $4.7 billion in Q3 2024, have now stagnated, with energy and industry expenditures plummeting from $1.27 billion in Q3 2024 to just $445 million by Q3 2025.
The report also covers how Trump administration led changes to funding have impacted local projects, including the industrial efficiency projects at the Cleveland-Cliffs Corporation in Middletown, OH, workforce development programming led by Landforce in Pittsburgh, PA, long term delays to a coal to solar project in Nicholas County, WV, and impacts to the development of a battery manufacturing facility led by Sparkz Inc. in cooperation with the United Mine Workers of America in Taylor County, WV.
“The Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act brought unprecedented investment and job creation to communities across our region,” said Diana Polson, report co-author. “We documented $9.85 billion in energy and industry investments, $18.8 billion in clean energy manufacturing, and $22.3 billion in retail purchases of clean technologies since 2022. These were transforming our communities, creating good-paying jobs that don’t require college degrees. Now we’re watching those opportunities slip away as federal funding flatlines.”
Rike Rothenstein, report co-author, added: “The data tells a stark story. Clean energy manufacturing grew from nearly nothing in 2018 to substantial investments by 2023, with 72% going to battery manufacturing and 19% to zero-emissions vehicles. But the momentum has stopped. Federal clean energy investments waned dramatically as President Trump took office for his second term, and the proposed One Big Beautiful Bill Act threatens to dismantle remaining programs entirely. From a canceled furnace upgrade at Cleveland-Cliffs’ steel plant in Middletown, Ohio, to a stalled solar project on former mine land in Nicholas County, WV, our case studies show how these cuts impact our communities.”
“What’s particularly devastating is that the majority of threatened jobs are in construction and manufacturing, exactly the kind of blue-collar work our communities need,” said Dana Kuhnline, report co-author. “These investments were targeting places like Appalachia that have been left behind. The chaotic efforts to dismantle them will have particularly devastating impacts here, raising residential energy prices, sabotaging job creation, and ceding America’s leadership in clean energy to foreign competitors.”
Key findings from the report include:
- Clean energy investments dropped from a peak of $4.7 billion in Q3 2024 to $3.8 billion in Q1 2025, with continued flatlining through Q3 2025
- Energy and industry expenditures plummeted 65% from their peak, from $1.27 billion to $445 million
- 67% of projected clean energy jobs in the region (over 61,000 jobs) are now at risk
- Federal funding decreased significantly as the Trump administration took office, reversing gains from historic climate legislation
- National data from the Federal Reserve corroborates regional trends, showing private construction spending in manufacturing plateaued at $240 billion in mid-2024 after tripling from 2021
The analysis predicts that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) will raise residential energy prices, sabotage job creation, and cede America’s leadership in clean energy and manufacturing to foreign competitors, with Appalachian communities bearing the brunt of these impacts.
“In less than a year, we have seen the historic growth of the clean energy and manufacturing sectors drop to a flat line,” the report concludes. “Our region was set to create 92,282 jobs because of clean energy investments. Now those opportunities are vanishing before our eyes.”
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