New data from the Rhodium Group and MIT/CEEPRs Clean Investment Monitor shows that investments in clean technology manufacturing in Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia have reached their lowest point in almost three years.
Credit: Keystone Research Center
Established investments in clean technology manufacturing in the region fell to $1.35 billion in the fourth quarter of 2025 – a 21% decline from the peak of $1.69 billion just two quarters earlier. This represents the lowest quarterly investment since the second quarter of 2023.
“These numbers tell a clear story of missed economic opportunity for Appalachia,” said Diana Polson, senior policy analyst at Keystone Research Center. “Just as our region was poised to become a hub for next-generation manufacturing, federal policy changes are pulling the rug out from under workers and communities who have waited decades for these types of investments.”
The decline is mainly driven by declining investment in battery production, which fell from $1.2 billion in the second quarter of 2025 to $910 million in the fourth quarter of 2025. Production of zero-emission vehicles also fell from a peak of $483 million in the third quarter of 2025 to $422 million at the end of the year.
In the region, four manufacturing projects totaling nearly $2 billion were canceled in 2024 and 2025: Enervenue battery project in Kentucky (Q4 2024, $285 million), Ascend Elements SK Ecoplant battery project in Kentucky (May 2025, $66 million), Foxconn zero-emission vehicle project in Ohio (August 2025, $26 million) and Ford’s zero-emission vehicles in Ohio (December 2025, $1.57 billion).
“Each canceled project represents hundreds or thousands of good-paying jobs that will not materialize in communities that desperately need them,” Polson said. “The Trump administration’s elimination of the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit and accelerated phaseout of renewable energy incentives through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act have created a cascading effect throughout the manufacturing supply chain.”
The regional trend mirrors national data showing private construction spending in the industry fell 11% between August 2024 and October 2025. The fourth quarter of 2025 also set a record as the highest quarter for canceled clean technology investments nationwide since records began.
“Appalachia has the workforce, infrastructure and potential to lead the future of American clean energy production,” Polson said. “But that future requires stable, predictable policy support – not the boom-and-bust cycle we see now. Our elected leaders must recognize that abandoning these investments means giving up the economic revitalization our region has been promised for far too long.”
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