🔗 Share this article

During formal UN media briefings, in swanky auditoriums and at crowded progressive dance parties, one term was on everyone’s lips at this year’s Climate Week NYC: cost-effectiveness.

The American energy chief, Chris Wright, stated that during President Trump the United States is “reverting to commonsense energy policies that focus on affordability”. The former energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm, said Democrats must focus on renewable power’s ability to shrink power bills to win elections. And supporters of the almost certainly future New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani, trumpeted their initiatives to link green policies with efforts to lower city residents’ rent and ensure transit affordable.

The attempt to link daily cost issues to global warming is longstanding. The concept was a key part of the Green New Deal, 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 picked up the approach in the White House, naming his signature green carbon-cutting policy the Inflation Reduction Act, from 2022.

Now, as utility bills soar around the country, Americans on every part of the political spectrum are presenting their energy and climate plans as ways to protect ordinary people’s finances.

Essential Updates

• Uncovered: The EU losing 600 football pitches of nature and crop land a day
• UK fracking ban to be brought forward as Labour counters Reform promise
• Israel’s environmental destruction in Gaza delivers this signal: even if we stopped dropping bombs, you couldn’t live here

Spotlight

Annually, Climate Week in New York City unites government officials, corporate actors, scholars and campaigners for a vast array of climate-focused events, scheduled to align with the United Nations general assembly.

This year, the Trump administration’s environment-deregulating campaign cast a massive shadow over the event. In appearances through the week, White House officials sought to peg its deregulatory agenda as a win to lower Americans’ bills, with Trump labeling green energy a “scam” and Wright saying: “The more people have gotten into so-called climate action, the more expensive their energy has become.”

Climate advocates worked to expose those statements as inaccurate while getting Americans on board with green policies on the basis that they can cut costs. For instance, two Democratic representatives, from Illinois and California, unveiled a plan to accelerate new power-line construction and restore green energy incentives which Trump canceled earlier this year. Its name: the Cheap Energy Act.

It’s a framework that Jennifer Granholm, who acted as US energy secretary under Biden, noted she expected as climate slips down the list of public priorities for Americans, while economic worries rise. “My guess is you’re not going to see a lot of politicians using the word ‘climate’, because people see that as a secondary [concern], not a essential, and right now they’re in the must-have mode,” she told reporters during avocado toast one morning. “Affordability is crucial.”

Those well to Granholm’s progressive side also called for a focus on affordability in the climate fight. But many demanded more ambitious solutions that deliver more quick benefits. Instead of merely adjusting with the tax code to encourage green technology expansion – a hallmark of Biden’s climate efforts – politicians should prioritize less technical, “green economic populist” campaigns such as no-cost transit and the build-out of decarbonized public housing.

“These kinds of programs do have decarbonization benefits, but they’re extremely important for starting to establish a broad support [who have] faith in public institutions and confidence in the government,” Batul Hassan, labor director at the progressive thinktank Climate and Community Institute, remarked at a panel.

Mamdani, the socialist who secured a stunning win in the New York City mayoral primary this summer, represents this kind of platform, 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 link between the transition to renewable energy and paying less money,” New York City comptroller Brad Lander said in an interview at the party, speaking over the beat of Charli xcx.

Communication is critical, but merely talking 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 failed to fulfill on his promise of reducing bills while giving massive benefits to oil giants and other corporations. And many Democrats are also culpable of favoring their corporate donors’ 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 truly bringing relief to people. And we see that when we genuinely prioritize people over profit, people respond to that. People can discern who is sincere.”

Read More:

• US energy department cracks down on workers’ use of environmental emergency language
• Trump administration spending $625m to resurrect declining coal industry
• Los Angeles vowed to host the Olympics without breaking the bank and environment. Can it?