🔗 Share this article

During formal United Nations press conferences, in luxurious auditoriums and at sticky socialist dance parties, one word was on all lips at this year’s New York Climate Week: cost-effectiveness.

The American energy chief, Chris Wright, said that under President Trump the United States is “reverting to practical energy policies that focus on affordability”. The previous energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm, emphasized Democrats must center on renewable power’s capacity to reduce power bills to win elections. And supporters of the almost certainly future New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani, promoted their efforts to link green policies with efforts to lower city residents’ rent and make transit cost-effective.

The attempt to tie daily cost issues to climate change is not new. The concept was a key part of the progressive climate plan, a forward-thinking policy platform popularized by youth-led climate group the Sunrise Movement and New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2018. Joe Biden adopted the framing in the White House, naming his flagship green carbon-cutting policy the Inflation Reduction Act, from 2022.

Now, as energy costs soar around the country, Americans on all sides of the political spectrum are framing their energy and climate proposals as ways to safeguard ordinary people’s finances.

Key Reads

• Uncovered: The EU losing 600 football pitches of wildlife and crop land a day
• UK hydraulic fracturing prohibition to be brought forward as Labour counters Reform promise
• Israel’s ecocide in Gaza sends this signal: even if we stopped dropping bombs, you couldn’t live here

Spotlight

Every year, Climate Week in New York City brings together public leaders, business representatives, experts and activists for a wide range of climate-focused events, timed to align with the United Nations general assembly.

This year, the Trump administration’s anti-environmental blitz cast a massive shadow over the event. In speeches through the week, White House officials aimed to peg its deregulatory agenda as a win to lower Americans’ bills, with Trump calling green energy a “fraud” and Wright declaring: “The more people have gotten into supposed climate action, the more expensive their energy has become.”

Environmental supporters attempted to reveal those claims as inaccurate while getting Americans on board with green policies on the grounds that they can lower costs. For instance, two Democratic representatives, from Illinois and California, unveiled a plan to speed new power-line construction and restore green energy incentives which Trump repealed earlier this year. Its name: the Cheap Energy Act.

It’s a framework that Jennifer Granholm, who served as US energy secretary under Biden, said she expected as climate falls down the list of political concerns for Americans, while financial anxieties rise. “My guess is you’re not going to see a lot of politicians using the word ‘climate’, because people see that as a nice-to-have [concern], not a must-have, and right now they’re in the must-have mode,” she told reporters during avocado toast one morning. “Affordability is crucial.”

Those significantly Granholm’s left also advocated a emphasis on affordability in the climate fight. But many called for more far-reaching solutions that provide more quick benefits. Instead of merely tinkering with the tax code to encourage green technology expansion – a hallmark of Biden’s climate efforts – politicians should focus on less wonky, “green economic populist” campaigns such as no-cost transit and the development of decarbonized public housing.

“These kinds of programs do have decarbonization benefits, but they’re extremely important for starting to establish a mass base [who have] trust in public institutions and trust in the government,” Batul Hassan, workforce lead at the progressive thinktank Climate and Community Institute, said at a panel.

Mamdani, the left-wing who secured a stunning win in the New York City mayoral primary this summer, embodies this kind of agenda, said Hassan. On Wednesday of Climate Week, progressives assembled for a celebration at the legendary Sounds of Brazil music venue to celebrate the candidate’s success.

“It has long been recognized that if we’re going to build a broad coalition, people need to see the connection between the transition to renewable energy and spending less money,” New York City comptroller Brad Lander said in an interview at the party, speaking over the beat of Charli xcx.

Communication is important, but merely speaking about affordability is not enough, Alexa Avilés, a New York City council member and progressive, told the Guardian at the Mamdani event. Trump, for instance, has not delivered to deliver on his promise of reducing bills as handing huge benefits to oil giants and other corporations. And many Democrats are also guilty of favoring their business backers’ interests, Avilés said.

“Some people talk about working-class folks, but then they make policies that are intended for the rich. We’ve been dealing with that disappointment for a long time,” she said. “We need to focus on actually bringing relief to people. And we see that when we really center people over profit, people respond to that. People can tell who is for real.”

Further Reading:

• US energy department cracks down on workers’ use of climate crisis language
• Trump administration allocating $625m to revive dying coal industry
• Los Angeles pledged to host the Olympics without straining the bank and environment. Can it?