The Trump administration may cut funding for two major direct-air capture plants

The list has a “Latest Status” column, which includes the word “Terminated” next to the $50 million award amounts for nearly every project. Those are lined up with the initial tranche of Department of Energy (DOE) funding for each development. According to the original announcement in 2023, the projects would have received $500 million or more in total grants when procured.

It is not clear whether ending the initial grants means that full funding will also be eliminated.

“It may not mean anything,” says Erin Burns, executive director of Carbon180, a nonprofit that advocates for the removal and reuse of carbon dioxide. “It may mean that there is a renegotiation of awards. Or it may mean that they are reduced altogether. But uncertainty certainly does not help projects.”

A Department of Energy spokesperson confirmed that no final decision has been made.

“It is incorrect to suggest that these two projects be terminated, and we are unable to verify any lists provided by anonymous sources,” Ben Diederich, the department’s press secretary, said in an email.

Last week, the Department of Energy announced it would terminate about $7.5 billion in grants for more than 200 projects, saying they “did not adequately serve the nation’s energy needs, were not economically viable, and would not provide a positive return on investment of taxpayer dollars.”

Battelle and 1PointFive did not respond to inquiries from MIT Technology Review.

“Rumors have appeared on the market, and Climeworks is prepared for all scenarios,” Christophe Gebald, one of the company’s co-founders, said in a statement. He later added: “The need for DAC is growing as the world falls short of its climate goals, and we are working to achieve the Gigaton capacity that will be needed.”

“We are not aware of a decision from the Department of Energy and continue to communicate productively with the administration in reviewing the project,” Al-Irth said in a statement.

The increasing risks of climate change have driven the development of the direct air capture industry in recent years.

Climate models have found that the world may need to absorb billions of tons of carbon dioxide annually by about mid-century, in addition to dramatic emissions cuts, to prevent the planet from warming 2°C.

Carbon direct air plants are one of the most reliable ways to take greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere, but they also remain one of the most expensive and energy-intensive methods.

Under former president Joe Biden, the United States began providing increasingly generous grants, subsidies and other supports to help scale the nascent sector.