A divided federal appeals court has blocked the Environmental Protection Agency from taking back $20 billion in climate finance grants, ruling 2-1 to reinstate an injunction that the agency had persuaded a prior panel to lift. [1]
The money is the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, the program commonly called the green bank. The EPA, under Administrator Lee Zeldin, had moved to terminate the awards; this week the D.C. Circuit put the termination back on hold, reversing a September 2025 panel that had let the agency proceed. [1]
The practical effect is a hold, not a release. The injunction stops the EPA from clawing back the $20 billion, but it does not by itself hand the funds to recipients to spend. The awards stay where they are, protected from termination, while the underlying case over the agency's authority continues. [1]
The legal question is narrow and consequential: whether an agency can cancel grants it has already made. A 2-1 majority has now answered, for the moment, that the EPA cannot do so while the litigation runs its course. [1]
