A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that the Trump administration improperly moved to cancel roughly $20 billion in clean-energy grants awarded to nonprofit organizations. The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed an earlier panel decision and restored an injunction preventing the Environmental Protection Agency from reclaiming the funds.

The grants are part of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a program Congress created through the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act to finance renewable-energy, energy-efficiency and pollution-reduction projects. Several grant recipients, including Climate United Fund and the Coalition for Green Capital, were selected to direct investments toward communities that have historically had less access to clean-energy financing.

The court’s majority concluded that the EPA’s attempt to terminate the awards over a change in policy likely violated federal law. The ruling will not release the money immediately, and the administration may ask the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene, but the decision represents a major legal victory for the nonprofits and communities awaiting the investments.