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At formal UN press conferences, in luxurious auditoriums and at sticky socialist dance parties, one term was on everyone’s lips at this year’s Climate Week NYC: affordability.

The American energy chief, Chris Wright, said that during President Trump the United States is “returning to commonsense energy policies that concentrate on affordability”. The former energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm, said Democrats must center on renewable power’s capacity to shrink power bills to secure elections. And advocates of the almost certainly future New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani, promoted their initiatives to connect green policies with actions to lower city residents’ rent and ensure transit cost-effective.

The effort to link everyday cost issues to climate change is longstanding. The idea was a key part of the Green New Deal, a progressive policy platform popularized by young climate group the Sunrise Movement and New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2018. Joe Biden adopted the approach in the White House, calling his flagship green carbon-cutting policy the Inflation Reduction Act, from 2022.

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

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Spotlight

Annually, Climate Week in New York City brings together government officials, corporate actors, scholars and campaigners for a vast array of environment-centered events, scheduled 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 sought to frame its rule-cutting agenda as a victory to lower Americans’ bills, with Trump labeling green energy a “scam” and Wright saying: “The more people have gotten into supposed climate action, the more expensive their energy has become.”

Climate advocates attempted to reveal those claims as inaccurate while persuading Americans on board with green policies on the basis that they can cut costs. For instance, two Democratic representatives, from Illinois and California, introduced a proposal to speed new power-line construction and restore green energy incentives which Trump repealed earlier this year.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 strategy that Jennifer Granholm, who acted as US energy secretary under Biden, noted she anticipated as climate slips 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 secondary [concern], not a essential, and right now they’re in the critical mode,” she told reporters over avocado toast one morning. “Affordability is crucial.”

Those well to Granholm’s progressive side also called for a emphasis on affordability in the climate fight. But many called for more far-reaching solutions that provide more immediate benefits. Instead of merely adjusting with the tax code to encourage green technology buildout – a signature of Biden’s climate efforts – politicians should prioritize less wonky, “green economic populist” campaigns such as no-cost transit and the development of low-carbon public housing.

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

Mamdani, the socialist who achieved a remarkable 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 renowned Sounds of Brazil music venue to honor the candidate’s success.

“It has long been understood that if we’re going to build a mass movement, people need to see the connection between the shift 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.

Messaging is critical, but merely talking about affordability is insufficient, Alexa Avilés, a New York City council member and democratic socialist, told the Guardian at the Mamdani event. Trump, for instance, has failed to fulfill on his promise of lowering bills while handing massive benefits to oil giants and other corporations. And many Democrats are also guilty 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 living with that disappointment for a long time,” she said. “We need to concentrate on actually providing relief to people. And we see that when we genuinely center people over profit, people respond to that. People can discern who is for real.”

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