The US Senate voted to approve the White House’s request to cut $9 billion in funding for foreign aid and public media, a move that will further slash US support for overseas clean energy projects.
At the beginning of President Donald Trump’s second term, deep cuts to the US Agency for International Development eliminated more than 100 climate and energy-related programs overseas.
The latest cuts, which will now go to the House and then to Trump’s desk, extend that pattern, targeting a $125 million Clean Technology Fund that supported projects in emerging markets and funding for energy access in African countries through the US African Development Foundation.
In both cases, the programs were intended not just to benefit their direct recipients, but also to pave the way for US energy investors and project developers to expand their reach in challenging markets.
