New data from the Rhodium Group and MIT/CEEPR’s Clean Investment Monitor shows that clean technology manufacturing investment in Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia has hit its lowest point in nearly three years.
Credit: Keystone Research Center
Established clean tech manufacturing investment in the region fell to $1.35 billion in Q4 2025 – a 21% decline from the peak of $1.69 billion just two quarters earlier. This represents the lowest quarterly investment since Q2 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 that have been waiting decades for this kind of investment.”
The decline is driven primarily by collapsing battery manufacturing investment, which dropped from $1.2 billion in Q2 2025 to $910 million in Q4 2025. Zero-emission vehicle manufacturing also declined from a peak of $483 million in Q3 2025 to $422 million by year’s end.
Four manufacturing projects totaling nearly $2 billion were canceled in the region 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 zero-emission vehicle project in Ohio (December 2025, $1.57 billion).
“Each canceled project represents hundreds or thousands of good-paying jobs that won’t materialize in communities that desperately need them,” Polson said. “The Trump administration’s elimination of the $7,500 EV tax credit and accelerated phase-out of renewable energy incentives through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act has created a cascading effect throughout the manufacturing supply chain.”
The regional trend mirrors national data showing that private construction spending in manufacturing declined 11% between August 2024 and October 2025. Q4 2025 also set a record as the highest quarter for canceled clean tech investments nationwide since tracking began.
“Appalachia has the workforce, the infrastructure and the potential to lead America’s clean energy manufacturing future,” Polson said. “But that future requires stable, predictable policy support — not the boom-and-bust cycle we’re seeing now. Our elected leaders need to recognize that abandoning these investments means abandoning the economic revitalization our region has been promised for far too long.”
News item from Reimagine Appalachia
