E2 Report: Clean Energy Cancellations Cost U.S. 470,000 Jobs, Hundreds of Billions in GDP
One year after the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) was signed into law—rolling back tax credits and programs related to clean energy manufacturing and renewable electricity—a new economic analysis finds that large-scale clean energy projects abandoned since the beginning of 2025 will cost the U.S. economy nearly 470,000 jobs and hundreds of billions of dollars in foregone wages, tax revenues, private investment, and economic growth.
According to the report, released by the national nonpartisan business group E2, the closed, downsized, and canceled projects would have generated more than $90 billion in U.S. GDP growth during construction alone. Once operational, the canceled or abandoned projects would have generated an additional $55 billion every year.
All told, the canceled projects represent $68 billion in lost capital investment and another $48 billion in lost annual operational investment. The projects would have generated an estimated $53 billion in wages for workers during constructionand more than $31 billion annually after they began operation.
The economic impacts of these cancelled and downsized projects go far beyond just new local investments and jobs. Nearly $20 billion in federal, state, and local tax revenue would have been generated from just the construction activity, and another $12 billion in annual tax revenues would have been generated from operations, according to the analysis.
The analysis, conducted by BW Research for E2, models the economic impact of 216 large-scale clean energy and clean vehicle manufacturing and electricity generation projects that have been canceled, closed, or downsized since January 2025 amid federal clean energy policy rollbacks. While the OBBBA itself was a major setback to the U.S. transition to a cleaner economy, the Trump administration's broader hostility toward clean energy – including permitting bans on solar and wind developments; government payoffs of companies to stop offshore wind projects and gutting of federal clean energy programs - has compounded the negative economic consequences of the OBBBA.
“The numbers tell the story. Making it harder to build clean energy projects means lost jobs, lost investments, lost electricity supplies and lost local tax revenues,” said E2 Executive Director Bob Keefe. “Add it all up and it’s clear that federal actions to stop clean energy are costing all of us - consumers, businesses and our national economy - big time.”
The report finds that the biggest losses are concentrated in sectors critical to U.S. competitiveness and electricity capacity. Battery storage projects account for the largest share of lost construction-phase jobs, with more than 42,000 jobs. Solar projects account for almost 33,000 lost construction jobs, while electric vehicle projects account for nearly 28,000.
During operations, electric vehicle-related projects account for the largest share of long-term losses, with nearly 255,000 permanent jobs no longer supported. Battery storage projects account for nearly 64,000 permanent jobs, while solar projects account for almost 19,000.
"Clean energy has been a major economic driver over the past decade, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs across a wide range of roles in manufacturing, construction, and professional services," said Phil Jordan, CEO of BW Research Partnership. "Accurate, current information on jobs in the energy sector has never been more important."
The cancellations also represent a major setback for U.S. energy supplies at a time when demand and prices are rising. The report finds that cancelled, closed, or downsized projects include about 10 gigawatts of solar capacity, 3.75 gigawatts of wind capacity and 9 gigawatts of battery storage — enough electricity to power roughly 3 million homes.
“These cancellations are hitting exactly the kinds of projects America needs most: domestic manufacturing, battery storage, solar, wind, and electric vehicles,” said Michael Timberlake, E2 Director of Research and Publications. “The losses go far beyond the direct jobs announced by companies. Every cancelled factory or power project means fewer construction workers on site, fewer suppliers filling orders, fewer dollars flowing through local economies, and fewer tax revenues for schools, fire departments, roads, and public services.”
The analysis models direct, indirect, and induced economic impacts using IMPLAN input-output modeling and NREL’s JEDI model. That means the job and GDP losses include not only workers directly tied to canceled clean energy projects, but also supply-chain businesses and local spending that would have been supported by those investments.
Among the key findings:
- 216 major clean energy projects have been canceled, closed, or downsized since January 2025.
- 468,000 jobs are no longer supported, including 124,500 construction jobs annually for five years and 343,500 permanent jobs.
- $68.2 billion in capital investment has been canceled or foregone.
- $48.4 billion in annual operational investment will no longer flow through the economy.
- $90.8 billion in construction-phase GDP has been lost, along with $55.1 billion in annual GDP from operations.
- Nearly $20 billion in tax revenue from construction and $12 billion annually from operations will no longer support federal, state, and local governments.
The full report is available here.
E2 | www.e2.org