Biden pushes out over $100 billion in clean energy grants as term winds down

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden's administration has awarded over $100 billion in grants created by its signature climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act, Biden senior advisor for international climate policy John Podesta said.

The administration hopes the spending milestone will help to continue the deployment of clean energy even after President-elect Donald Trump, a climate change skeptic who has pledged to rescind all unspent IRA funds, takes office.

“Crossing the milestone of $100 billion awarded shows just how quickly we’re getting these funds out the door and into communities so they can make a real difference for the American people,” Podesta told Reuters.

Another senior Biden administration official said the administration is on track to exceed its goal of "obligating" over 80% of available IRA grant funding by the end of Biden's term next month.

"When funds are obligated, they are protected," the official told Reuters. "They are subject to the terms of the contract, so when those contracts are signed and executed, this becomes a matter of contract law more than a matter of politics."

The IRA also offers a decade's worth of tax incentives for clean energy projects, including for wind and solar installations, and ending those subsidies would likely require an act of Congress.

The IRA's grants and subsidies have driven billions of dollars to renewable-energy projects across the country, with Republican-led states getting the bulk of the benefits.

In August, 18 Republican House members wrote to House Speaker Mike Johnson asking him not to gut the law's incentives because it would jeopardize major investments.

Some of Trump's close allies have also benefited from the IRA, particularly its provisions boosting carbon capture and sequestration, as well as clean hydrogen.

Among the recent awards that pushed the grant funding over the $100 billion milestone are a $119 million contract issued by the General Services Administration to electrify five federal buildings in the D.C. region; $147 million to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for science and data collection to account for the effects of climate change on fisheries; and an additional $256 million in Rural Energy for America Program grants and loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Mark Porter)