Trump Budget Cuts Western Renewable Energy Labs Funding Nearly Half

President Donald Trump's administration has proposed significant budget cuts for key national research laboratories focused on climate change and renewable energy, including the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, which would see funding nearly halved in 2026. These cuts threaten to reduce research capacity on clean energy technologies, energy efficiency, and climate risk measurement, with potential layoffs of up to 1,000 staff, risking a brain drain as top scientists may seek opportunities abroad. Concurrently, Trump has issued an executive order restricting access to renewable energy tax credits established under the recent "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" (OBBBA), which itself rolled back some of the incentives from the prior Inflation Reduction Act, potentially slowing growth in wind and solar energy investments. Two GOP senators, Chuck Grassley and John Curtis, have pushed back against Trump's executive order, placing holds on Treasury Department nominees responsible for implementing the new guidance, arguing for adherence to the original law and orderly phaseout of credits. The OBBBA prioritizes certain clean energy technologies over others, preserving incentives more for emerging technologies like small modular reactors and carbon capture while scaling back support for wind and solar, which have recently seen rapid growth in U.S. electricity generation. These combined policy and budgetary moves present a challenging landscape for the U.S. renewable energy sector and climate research at a critical time for combating greenhouse gas emissions.