US clean energy jobs fell for the first time since the pandemic

The US lost 36,949 clean energy jobs in 2025, ending four straight years of growth. That’s the direct impact of the Trump administration and the Republican-controlled Congress rolling back federal support for clean energy and EVs, which led companies to cancel or scale back projects.

That’s according to new findings from E2, which analyzed employment data from the US Department of Energy. Clean energy employment fell to 3.52 million, the first annual decline since the pandemic. The jobs lost in 2025 erased nearly 40% of the gains made in 2024.

The losses reached 35 states. California shed nearly 21,000 clean energy jobs, the most of any state, while Florida gained about 3,800. Energy efficiency, renewable energy, and EVs all lost jobs. Battery storage and grid work, along with biofuels, posted small gains.

E2 connects the downturn to the federal policy reversal and the resulting rise in project cancellations. Its project tracker recorded 142 clean energy manufacturing, generation, and storage projects canceled or downsized in 2025. The employment figures show the extent of the decline, but don’t establish how many of those jobs were lost due to a particular policy change.

Clean energy wasn’t the only sector losing workers. The broader US energy industry shed an estimated 86,000 jobs in 2025, according to the DOE data cited by E2. Clean energy accounted for roughly 43% of that decline, but it remains the largest part of the energy workforce, employing more than 3.5 million people. Compare that to oil and gas companies, which employ 958,000 workers; coal companies, with 125,000 employees; and nuclear companies, with 70,000 workers.

These are E2’s initial findings. Its full Clean Jobs America 2026 report, with more detailed state, county, and industry figures, is expected in October.