Aug 4 (Reuters) – A federal appeals court said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency cannot freeze about $20 billion of clean energy grants awarded to several nonprofit groups, handing a defeat to the Trump administration. The money for so-called National Clean Investment Fund and Clean Communities Investment Accelerator entities was expected to help fund renewable energy products, including in communities that have lacked access to green financing. Funds came from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a $27 billion program established in 2022 by Congress in former Democratic President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. The injunction required the disbursement of the disputed funds, but was put on hold while the EPA appealed. In Tuesday’s decision, an equally divided 10-judge panel of the court upheld the entire injunction, while six judges upheld the specific provision governing the grants.