ANALYSIS
The Trump administration on Jan. 22 announced the cancellation of $30 billion green loans and is revising another $53 billion.
These changes and eliminations came after its review of loan obligations issued under the Biden administration.
“Over the past year, the Energy Department individually reviewed our entire loan portfolio to ensure the responsible investment of taxpayer dollars,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement.
He said, “Dollars were rushed out the door of the Loan Programs Office in the final months of the Biden Administration than had been disbursed in over fifteen years,” according to the statement.
“President Trump promised to protect taxpayer dollars and expand America’s supply of affordable, reliable, and secure energy,” Wright said. “Thanks to the Working Families Tax Cut, the newly restructured Energy Dominance Financing is playing a key role in fulfilling that mission.”
The Trump administration has already cancelled over $9.5 billion in solar and wind projects, replacing those with natural gas and nuclear plants.
China Lacks Behind US in Green House Emission Reduction
The U.S. is the world’s largest economy but its carbon emission is far lower than China given the latter’s high dependency on coal. China’s green energy initiatives to achieve net zero emission remain uncertain.
The U.S. power sector has reduced emissions over the years due to reduction of coal in favour of natural gas, renewables and nuclear energy.
Energy from coal constitutes around 16.2 per cent of the U.S.’ total energy needs, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
The U.S. is the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gas (GHG) after China, and is responsible for approximately 10 per cent of the world’s annual GHG emissions based on an estimated emissions of 5.9 billion tonnes in 2025, according to the AP news outlet.
The country’s GHG emission peaked around 2005.
Since 1990, electric power GHG emissions have decreased about 15%, even while electricity generation continued.
It is unclear if the Trump administration has set a timeline for achieving net-zero emission as it had rejected the Biden administration’s net-zero goal by 2025.
Trump is pushing for energy dominance that prioritises domestic fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas as well as nuclear energy over renewables like solar and wind.
Emissions from U.S. coal plants is around 9 to 10 percent gCO₂/kWh less than China’s coal plants as its plants use mostly supercritical or ultra-supercritical technology, burning coal more efficiently.
U.S.’ coal plants emit even less GHG of about 20 to 25 per cent gCO₂/kWh when compared to China’s older plants.
On the other hand, China, the world’s second largest economy, is the largest GHG emitter, due to its dependence on coal for its electricity and industry needs.
It is responsible for 27 to 30 per cent of global GHG emissions based on an estimate of 15 to 16 billion tonnes of GHG in 2025 as official national data lag by a few years.
About 60 per cent of China’s electricity generation come from coal.
A Reuters report said that reducing coal use is key to China’s goal to hit peak GHG emissions by 2030 and reach net-zero by 2060.
“China will need to add 4,500 GW of wind and solar capacity between 2020 and 2060” which will cost an estimated $12.7 trillion, according to the School of Public Policy.
China has been investing in solar and wind power over the years to replace coal with encouraging signs of a fall in coal-based power generation in 2025, the first time in a decade, according to a Reuters report.
However, its solar industry has been losing money.
China installed a record-setting 277 gigawatts of solar capacity in 2024 but the “solar industry lost $60 that same year,” reported MarketWatch.
“More than 40 solar manufacturers have gone bankrupt or delisted since 2024. One-third of China’s 121 listed solar producers are operating in the red.”
The top four manufacturers “collectively lost $1.5 billion in the first half of 2025 alone,” it added.
Despite pledges to peak emissions for coal by 2030, China continues to build or approve new coal power plants and expand coal production capacity in recent years, suggesting the challenges of solar investments.
China approved 11.29 gigawatts (GW) of new coal power plants in the first three months of 2025, already exceeding the 10.34 GW approved in the first half of 2024, according to the Reuters report.
The report added that China’s 2021-2025 five-year plan saw the country approve 289 GW in new coal capacity, almost double the 145 GW approved for the 2016-2020 period.
