Washington, D.C. — Today, Secretary Wright announced cuts to key projects from the Department of Energy’s Industrial Demonstration Program (IDP) — an initiative designed to modernize U.S. industrial facilities, catalyze private investment, and secure American leadership in clean manufacturing.

Launched in March 2024, the IDP awarded cost-sharing grants to 33 projects across more than 20 states. These projects aimed to deploy early-stage, commercial-scale decarbonization technologies in some of the most polluting and economically critical sectors, including steel, cement, aluminum, chemicals, and food production. The program, which combined $6 billion in public funding with $14 billion in private funding from awardees, was projected to support tens of thousands of high-quality jobs and deliver billions in local economic development, particularly in traditional manufacturing corridors and Republican-led states.

Projects being cut include Kraft-Heinz’s "Delicious Decarbonization” investment in 10 food manufacturing facilities across the country and Heidelberg’s “Mitchell Cement Plant Decarbonization Project” in Indiana, to name just two of the 24 projects on the chopping block. Pulling the plug at this stage not only wastes public and private resources, it stalls urgently needed upgrades in a region heavily impacted by industrial air pollution. Cutting these projects also means violating legal contracts signed in good faith by private companies and the U.S. government.

Heavy industry is responsible for 23% of greenhouse gas emissions, the only growing source of climate pollution. The IDP represented a rare, bipartisan opportunity to future-proof American industry while delivering tangible public health, economic, and climate benefits.

In response to this announcement, Evan Gillespie, Partner at Industrious Labs, issued the following statement:

“This is how the Trump administration treats American industry and American workers. They’re not building an economy — they’re dismantling it, and giving away the future of manufacturing.

The Trump administration rolled out tariffs, arguing that these measures are necessary to revive manufacturing — yet, at the same time, they are canceling manufacturing projects nationwide and increasing energy costs for manufacturers.

Thanks to Secretary Wright and President Trump, billions of private investments and thousands of jobs are disappearing. The Industrial Demonstration projects were slated to provide thousands of jobs here at home while leading the world in cutting-edge industrial technologies.

These projects would have helped catapult the U.S. into a leadership position in the technologies that will bring down emissions and pace the next generation of industrial evolution. Killing these projects means more emissions, more pollution, and more people getting sick.

Canceling these projects also hurts American workers and regions most in need of investment, handing a competitive advantage to Europe, China, Canada, and other nations that are making significant investments in clean manufacturing while leaving the U.S behind. While countries around the world are scaling up, this decision leaves our country behind.”

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About Industrious Labs:

Industrious Labs is an nongovernmental organization focused on modernizing and cleaning up heavy industry through research and analysis, network and capacity building, and data-driven campaigns.