Welcome back: The U.S. clean energy landscape is changing rapidly, but the rollback in green subsidies and pulback in clean-energy funding under the Trump adminstration could have long lasting consequences.

The country has been a technological leader in clean energy since at least the Manhattan Project, when it played a crucial role in the advancement of nuclear energy. The first practical solar cell was developed by Bell Labs in the 50s. The first large-scale wind farm was built in California in the 80s. In the 90s, the U.S. led the world on electric-vehicle battery development. And in 2008, Tesla made the first EV able to travel more than 200 miles.

More recently, under the Biden administration, tax credits, subsidies and grants helped the U.S. to take the lead in clean hydrogen and carbon capture, even as China remains the largest producer of clean energy overall.

But over the past month, the Trump administration has set about rolling back Biden’s incentives, canceling grants and removing tax credits that helped to spur production across the country.

It's leading to a showdown in the Senate, as Republican leaders push to keep some of the Biden-era incentives in place given the huge number of jobs created from the manufacturing push. Consultancy E2 estimates some 20,000 jobs have already been lost from cancellations over funding worries. 

For more on this, and other sustainable stories including a new water treatment plant cleaning out "forever chemicals," read on. 

The U.S. is the world leader in clean hydrogen and carbon-capture production, but President Trump’s move to roll back green subsidies could mean giving up that position, WSJ Pro Sustainable Business reports.

Last month, Energy Secretary Chris Wright moved to cut $3.7 billion of grants and subsidies authorized under the previous administration that were designed to get clean-energy projects off the ground. Those included a carbon capture and storage project in Indiana, plastics recycling projects in Texas and a green cement project in California.

Under the “Big Beautiful Bill” proposal, hydrogen tax credits are set to be phased out by the end of the year and clean-energy tax credits face a de facto repeal for projects coming online next year and in 2027. The Trump administration said the technologies were costly, burdening ratepayers and consumers, calling the sector a scam.

Industrial-gases supplier Air Products & Chemicals had planned to build a $4.5 billion hydrogen facility in Louisiana, but that project price tag has now ballooned to $8 billion, the construction timeline has slipped and the company is still seeking customers. Similarly, Nel Hydrogen has hit the brakes on a $400 million factory in suburban Detroit, due to policy uncertainty.

Democrats and clean energy advocates are ratcheting up pressure on a handful of Republican senators to salvage billions of dollars in projects, ahead of an expected vote next week on President Trump’s megabill that targets critical subsidies for elimination, the WSJ's Lindsay Wise and Jennifer Hiller write.

How fast to wind down clean-energy credits is one of several contentious pieces of the tax-and-spending legislation, along with reductions in Medicaid spending, that Republican party leaders need to iron out quickly to hit a July 4 deadline for delivering the bill to Trump’s desk. While some Republicans are trying to protect funding for projects in their states, other GOP lawmakers see the subsidies as a ripe target for savings, as the party moves to extend and expand Trump’s tax cuts.

Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, who backs the subsidies and is up for re-election next year in closely divided North Carolina, said the Senate language released Monday “moved substantially” in the right direction from an earlier House version, and that he is still in negotiations with colleagues.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.) said Wednesday that the energy credits language in the bill is “not totally settled yet.” Any changes that pass the Senate would then have to be approved by the House, where Republicans have taken a dimmer view of the subsidies.

The tug of war over renewable energy projects and manufacturing has centered in recent weeks on senators like Tillis, who hails from a state with billions of dollars of investment at stake in the fate of the tax credits.

Drinking water in Delaware is now being cleaned by one of the largest “forever chemicals” treatment centers in the country, WSJ Pro Sustainable Business's Clara Hudson writes.

Veolia, a French waste-management giant and the largest private water operator in the U.S., launched the facility this week. Boasting almost the same size as a hockey rink, it is the company’s largest plant yet to clean PFAS, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances—more commonly known as forever chemicals. PFAS linger in the environment for years, permeating the environment, including drinking water.

Veolia already has 34 facilities on a much smaller scale dotted around the country. But the Stanton plant is now processing 30 million gallons of water a day and serving 100,000 residents. The company wants to expand to about 100 such sites in the next few years. Veolia said its revenue for PFAS cleanup grew to €205 million in 2024, just two years after launching the efforts.

The tides are turning on some PFAS requirements, however. The Environmental Protection Agency in 2023 set in motion the first federal limits on PFAS in drinking water, which would have mandated municipalities to filter out the chemicals. But in May, under the Trump administration, the agency said it is looking to delay or roll back the Biden-era standards. While environmental and health advocates balked at the shift, some industry groups have said postponements—from a 2029 to a 2031 deadline—would help with preparations.

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WSJ Pro Sustainable Business gives you an inside look at how companies are tackling sustainability. Send comments to bureau chief Perry Cleveland-Peck at perry.cleveland-peck@wsj.com and reporters Clara Hudson at clara.hudson@wsj.com and Yusuf Khan at yusuf.khan@wsj.com. Follow us on LinkedIn at wsjperry, clara-hudson and yusuf_khan.