The Trump administration’s moves to freeze and slash billions in federal spending has put nearly $140 million in funding for city of New Orleans programs that promote energy efficiency and climate readiness at risk. The city department in charge of sustainability initiatives could face the loss of nearly its entire budget.
The city’s Office of Resilience and Sustainability, which is responsible for leading the planning and programming of policies that will help New Orleans fulfill its climate action plan of net zero emissions by 2050, is almost entirely funded through federal grants. Federal grants represent nearly 97% of the department’s expected $55.6 million budget for 2025.
Even though a federal judge has blocked the recent order freezing almost all federal grants and loans, some government agencies were still withholding awards as of this week.
Greg Nichols, the city’s deputy chief resilience officer, said his team is grappling with the uncertainty and frustration stemming from Trump’s freeze and the state of the city budget. Nichols said his department has tried to receive clarity from federal agencies that have awarded them money, but some have been unresponsive. After the inauguration, other agencies canceled previously scheduled meetings with the office.
“This will have a huge impact on the work of our office,” Nichols said. “This is an unprecedented illegal action that the federal government is taking, and the court orders, we hope will be put in place to stop this.”
One of Trump’s executive orders called for a halt on funds for so-called “Green New Deal” programs — essentially those meant to combat or mitigate the effects of climate change. They target Biden-era laws like the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, which combined represent more than $1 trillion in investments toward clean energy solutions across sectors, including the installation of solar panels and EV charging stations.
The Office of Resilience and Sustainability is involved in projects that promote tree planting in the city’s hottest areas and wetland restoration that can help prevent flooding during severe storms. Nichols said this year, the city had planned to expand its bike-sharing network and implement universal recycling carts and solar subsidies, but that these programs are being delayed and are at risk from the freeze.
“Frankly, the Inflation Reduction Act and the bipartisan infrastructure law have provided unprecedented levels of funding for climate work that has never been available before,” Nichols said.
Nichols said the department wants to continue to expand its work. The department has plans to hire 9 grant-funded staff positions, though they are waiting on the city’s overall response to the funding freeze for more guidance on whether hiring should continue. The Office of Resilience and Sustainability is still doing whatever it can to move forward with its goals but is unsure what next steps to take because of differing messages it’s receiving from federal agencies. Nichols said the office is looking into legal action it can take to receive money the federal government promised to give the department.
The only grant-funded project that has been allowed to continue is the New Orleans Canopy Training, Urban Reforestation, and Neighborhood Leadership program, which aims to plant 9,000 trees across the city over five years. In 2023, the program was awarded an $8 million grant from the USDA Forest Service to complete its goals. An officer with the Forest Service told the city it could proceed with the program, according to emails Brittany Mulla McGovern, the secretary of the Department of Parks & Parkways, sent to sub-awardees.
The Louisiana Green Corps, which provides training and skills for green jobs, is one of the groups that’s slated to get funds from the tree-planting program. Even though funds for that program aren’t frozen, the group has been granted $2.5 million in other federal awards that are now frozen, representing 45% of its total budget, said Ryan Mattingly, executive director of the Green Corps.
“The loss of federal funding really threatens to undermine the work that we’re doing in meaningful growth at a crucial moment when we were really scaling up the training and the services we provide to create more opportunities and more access to high wage, high demand green jobs,” Mattingly said.
Other nonprofits that work with the city as sub-awardees of federal grants will also feel the pinch. Arthur Johnson, the executive director of the Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development, said he is anxious about how the funding battle may play out.
Johnson’s organization is a sub-awardee of $100,000 that was granted to the city by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for wetland restoration. Johnson said the CSED works with the city to make sure the community is engaged and educated about the project and its goals.
Johnson and Mattingly both said they will likely have to rely more heavily on fundraising and philanthropic donations from private sources in the absence of federal investment.
“I’m cautiously concerned,” Johnson said. “I’m not panicking. … We have to start thinking strategically of how we’re going to adjust.”
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