Archive September 2, 2025

A federal appeals court has ruled that President Donald Trump’s administration can move forward with ending more than $ 16 billion in federal grants to climate change organizations.

The District of Columbia’s US Appeals Court overturned a lower court’s decision on Tuesday, with a 2 to 1 majority, to reverse the grant’s revoked status.

Judge Neomi Rao, a Trump appointee, wrote for the majority, claiming that the lower court was unable to render a decision in the matter.

Instead, she claimed that the Court of Federal Claims, which weighs contractual and monetary disputes, should have been in the hands of.

Rao wrote that “district courts have no jurisdiction to hear allegations that the federal government arbitrarily or with impunity terminated a grant agreement.” “Claims of arbitrary grant termination are primarily contractual,” says the statement.

She continued, district courts should concentrate on settling legal disputes or constitutional issues.

Judge Gregory Katsas, a fellow Trump appointee on the bench, joined Rao in making her choice.

Former US President Barack Obama appointed Cornelia Pillard as the only dissentioning judge on the appeals court.

She claimed that the Trump administration’s opposition to green-energy initiatives was reflected in the federal grant rollback as a political move.

Pillard also pointed out that the Inflation Reduction Act, a law passed by Congress in 2022 that included the single largest investment in climate change initiatives in US history, contained federal funding.

According to Pillard, the Trump administration made the decision to revoke federal grants “without giving any court any compelling evidence or coherent justification for its interference with plaintiffs’ money and its sabotage of Congress’s laws.”

The Inflation Reduction Act, a landmark piece of legislation passed under former President Joe Biden, was the continuation of a lawsuit brought by five of the eight nonprofits on Tuesday.

The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a program to fund “green bank” projects designed to build clean-energy infrastructure, reduce air pollution, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, had designated that money.

The funding was kept at Citibank, a well-known US financial institution, in advance of their distribution.

However, Lee Zeldin, Trump’s choice to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), publicly denounced the funds as a source of government waste in a video released on social media in February.

The Biden EPA reportedly parked roughly $20 billion of your tax dollars at an outside financial institution, Zeldin said. Just eight organizations were given the authority to distribute your money to NGOs and other organizations at their discretion, according to the statement.

He continued, “The days of recklessly handing over large sums of money to far-left activist groups in the name of climate justice and climate equity are over.”

The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund’s disbursement was halted by Zeldin by the EPA’s inspector general by March, and the funds had already been withdrawn.

One of the five organizations fighting for access to their roughly $16 million investment has been The Climate United Fund.

The Justice Climate Fund, Power Forward Communities, Inclusiv, and the Coalition for Green Capital are other plaintiffs.

The Climate United Fund reiterated in a statement that the Trump administration “broke the law” by recovering the funds following Tuesday’s ruling.

Our company’s CEO, Beth Bafford, stated, “While we are depressed by the panel’s decision, we stand firm on the merits of our case: EPA unlawfully froze and terminated funds that were legally obligated and disbursed.”

She continued, “Our road is not over now,” adding.

A lower-court decision from Obama appointee Judge Tanya Chutkan was overturned by Tuesday’s appeals court decision.

She requested Citibank’s release of the $20 billion in the form of a preliminary injunction against Zeldin’s decision on April 15. This injunction prevents Trump’s EPA from recouping the funds.

She argued that the EPA “gave no legal justification for the termination” and that the EPA’s choice to axe the funds posed a threat to the authority of Congress to make spending decisions.

Following a police investigation into his purchase of a supplement that might have broken the country’s stringent drug laws, Suntory Holdings CEO Takeshi Niinami, one of Japan’s most well-known businessmen, resigned from the beverage company.

Niinami, who frequently appeared at corporate Japan events at Davos and other international events, told Suntory he believed the supplement was legal, according to the company’s statement on Tuesday. He has advised several Japanese prime ministers.

“I didn’t know it was a prohibited supplement. In a report released on Tuesday evening, he claimed innocence in front of the Asahi newspaper. He added that if he did not step down, he said, the business would not be able to unite. Niinami could not be reached for comment right away.

Nobuhiro Torii, the company’s founder’s great-grandson Shinjiro Torii, announced in a press briefing that he would now be in full charge of the business.

Torii referred to Niinami as a “brave, determined leader who accomplished things,” and I sincerely respect him. It’s a real shame that we couldn’t continue as a team in that regard, which I also told him yesterday.

The powerful Keizai Doyukai business lobby is led by Niinami, who speaks English fluently. According to the Asahi report, he claimed he had no intention of leaving that position. Officials from the Keizai Doyukai were unavailable for comment right away.

On Wednesday afternoon, he is expected to give his regular press conference at the business lobby, in which he will provide more details about his resignation.

In addition to being outspoken, Niinami frequently expressed his opinions on how the Japanese economy should be run and how the central bank should act.

Investigation is continuing

According to the Tokyo Shimbun daily, Fukuoka prefecture police were looking into whether marijuana-containing supplements had been delivered to Niinami’s home, a case that has ties to a July arrest suspect.

Other Japanese media reported that the supplements allegedly contained THC, a psychoactive substance found in Japan. However, cannabis is legal as a distinct chemical compound, and there are products made in Japan made of it.

Niinami informed Suntory on August 22 that he was the subject of a police investigation, making the company the maker of whisky, beer, and other soft drinks like Orangina-branded soda. On September 1, he resigned.

Niinami, 66, took over Suntory as president in 2014 after purchasing US spirits company Beam for $ 16 billion, including debt, to significantly increase its revenue and profits.

No illegal drug use or possession has been confirmed, despite police questioning and searching Niinami’s Tokyo home. On the reports, there was no immediate access to a Fukuoka Police official.

Before becoming Suntory’s boss, the first person to lead the business from a non-familian background, Niinami was a graduate of Harvard Business School and previously held the position of chief executive of law enforcement company Lawson.

There are strict drug regulations in Japan. After an allegation that he had purchased illegal drugs, Japanese endoscope manufacturer Olympus Corp fired then-CEO Stefan Kaufmann, a German national.