Low-carbon cement startups allied with Amazon and Microsoft lose federal funding
Sublime Systems received its funding cancellation notice one week after announcing its unique procurement contract with Microsoft.
Reported by Heather Clancy in TRELLIS on June 4, 2025.
Key Takeaways:
The cuts came as a surprise, given Trump’s vocal support of U.S. manufacturing.
Even projects with high-profile corporate participation are subject to cancellation.
The review isn’t over: A total of $15 billion for industrial decarbonization at stake.
The Department of Energy’s plan to cut $3.7 billion in Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) awards strips funding from two startups that have scored high-profile deals with Microsoft and Amazon to decarbonize data center construction.
The DOE cuts came after a financial review ordered by President Donald Trump. So far, it impacts 24 projects — most related to carbon capture and storage — planned by a range of companies that also includes Diageo, ExxonMobil, Kohler and Kraft Heinz. About two-thirds of the projects were signed between Election Day and late in President Joe Biden’s term.
The cuts came as a surprise to the two startups, Brimstone Energy and Sublime Systems. “Given our project’s strong alignment with President Trump’s priority to increase U.S. production of critical minerals, we believe this was a misunderstanding,” said a Brimstone spokesperson.
Sublime, which also talked up its U.S. manufacturing plans in a statement about the cancellation, told Trellis that it is “evaluating various scenarios that leave our scale-up unimpeded.” Through a spokesperson, the company appealed to policymakers who “recognize that investing in American-invented breakthrough industrial technologies can address multiple policy priorities in tandem to the benefit of Americans from all walks of life.”