Renewable energy has driven a manufacturing boom in the US, but that’s all at stake as Congress weighs cuts to Biden-era tax incentives.
Solar, wind, and battery companies have announced plans to either create or expand 250 manufacturing facilities since August 2022. That’s when Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), considered the biggest federal investment to date in climate and clean energy. If those projects are up and running by 2030, they would collectively create more than 575,000 jobs and contribute $86 billion annually to gross domestic product, according to a report published today by the American Clean Power Association (ACP).
Republican districts benefit the most from the IRA’s clean energy tax credits. But now, GOP lawmakers could take away those tax incentives if they follow through with President Donald Trump’s plan to pass a “big, beautiful” spending bill that would rollback what he calls a “green new scam.”
“Republican districts benefit the most from the IRA’s clean energy tax credits”
Red states are home to 73 percent of active facilities, according to the ACP. And already, solar, wind, and battery manufacturing supports 122,000 full-time jobs. Solar manufacturing employed the biggest share of Americans, some 75,400 people. Solar was the fastest-growing source of electricity in 2024, according to data from the US Energy Information Administration, accounting for 81 percent of added annual capacity. Costs for solar and wind have fallen dramatically for decades, with utility-scale solar now the cheapest source of electricity in most parts of the world.
Despite that growth, supply chains for solar energy have been concentrated in China and beset with concerns about forced labor and human rights violations, particularly in the Xinjiang region. The Inflation Reduction Act was meant to supercharge domestic manufacturing, largely through tax credits. And it was starting to pay off. Manufacturing capacity for solar modules grew 190 percent in the US last year, according to a separate report by the Solar Energy Industries Association and research firm Wood Mackenzie.
Those tax credits are now in the crosshairs of a Republican-controlled Congress trying to ram Trump’s agenda into a sweeping spending bill. A draft bill from the House Ways and Means committee last week proposes phasing out the advanced manufacturing tax credit (45x) and other tax incentives for renewables established in the IRA, and would add stipulations in the meantime that would make it difficult for projects to qualify for credits.
If those proposals are ultimately signed into law, the US clean energy industry will see job losses as factories shut down, MJ Shiao, ACP Vice President of Supply Chain and Manufacturing said during a press briefing last week.
“What we have seen from these texts from House Ways and Means, it basically goes too far, too fast,” Shiao said. “The manufacturers that were being supported by these incentives, and frankly, were trusting that the government was going to honor these incentives, you know, they’re getting the rug pulled out from under them.”
As economic uncertainty and talk of recession intensifies, automakers face an uphill battle in everything from tariff impacts on production costs to fluctuating consumer spending in response to inflation.
The uncertainty has left marketers shaken because it’s historically meant cuts to marketing budgets. But as one of the biggest spending categories in media and marketing, auto makers aren’t ready to take their foot off the gas just yet. To put some numbers to it, automotive media spend in the U.S. is expected to hit $31.77 billion this year, up from $29.48 billion in 2024, according to eMarketer.
In January, Digiday reported auto marketers aren’t slowing ad spend in light of tariff tension. Recently, Digiday caught up with Denise Cherry, vp of marketing at Rivian, an electric vehicle company, about how the car brand is navigating economic headwinds, why it’s launching its first ever brand campaign now, and planning for the long term amidst uncertainty.
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Pharmaceutical advertisers are one of the biggest television spenders in the U.S. Collectively, they’ve injected $2.18 billion into linear media this year already, according to iSpot data.
But this year’s upfronts have thrown a spotlight on the growing list of challenges facing marketers in the space, from turbulent economic conditions to the looming threat of a pharmaceutical TV ad ban floated by U.S. secretary of health Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“Pharma is the port in the storm. When other categories might be pulling back, it’s not unusual to see pharma stay flat to up, in terms of overall investment,” Publicis Health Media CEO Andrea Palmer told Digiday.
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You’ve seen the headlines: “The TCF is illegal.” “RTB ruled unlawful.” But as usual in advertising, the truth is less clickbait, more caveat.
What did happen is this: Belgium’s Court of Appeal finally weighed in on the long-running saga around the Transparency and Consent Framework — the industry’s de facto permission slip for tracking-based advertising in the European Union. Depending on who you ask, the ruling was a win for privacy, a loss for business or just more fuel for a fight that’s far from over. One thing’s clear: it didn’t end the debate — it sharpened it.
Still parsing it all? We’ve got you. Here’s what actually happened, and what it means for Google, Amazon, IAB Europe and just about everyone else in the tracking-based ad economy.
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The closure of Microsoft Advertising’s demand-side platform is part of a broader shift toward AI-powered advertising and (arguably) the dawn of a new world order, one where Big Tech and independents operate in separate spheres.
That’s the opinion of several Digiday sources consulted in the days since the May 14 announcement, with some wondering what the second-order impact, or opportunity for both independent DSPs and sell-side players.
Last week, Microsoft Advertising told clients it would stop supporting its demand-side platform, Xandr Invest, starting in February. This was an apparent echo of the planned closure of Microsoft’s retail media network, PromoteIQ, as it appears to be consolidating its online advertising offering.
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Upfront Week is over; let the upfront negotiations begin. Sorta.
In the past, last week’s Upfront Week presentations by TV and streaming ad sellers would be swiftly followed by the start of the annual haggle with advertisers and their agencies. But the TV and streaming ad market has become more of an always-on marketplace.
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