Make Green Great Once More: Could Appeals to the Pocketbook Make Climate Action an Election-Winner?

At formal UN press conferences, in swanky auditoriums and at crowded progressive celebrations, one term was on everyone’s lips at this year’s Climate Week NYC: cost-effectiveness.

The American energy chief, Chris Wright, said that under President Trump the United States is “returning to practical energy policies that focus on affordability”. The former energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm, said Democrats must center on renewable power’s capacity to reduce power bills to secure elections. And supporters of the almost certainly soon-to-be New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani, trumpeted their efforts to link green policies with actions to cut city residents’ rent and make transit affordable.

The effort to tie daily cost issues to global warming is longstanding. The concept was a central part of the progressive climate plan, a progressive policy platform popularized by youth-led 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 signature green carbon-cutting policy the Inflation Reduction Act, from 2022.

Now, as utility bills rise around the country, Americans on every part of the ideological divide are presenting their energy and climate proposals as methods to protect everyday citizens’ pocketbooks.

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In Focus

Every year, Climate Week in New York City unites government officials, business representatives, scholars and campaigners for a vast array of environment-centered events, timed to align with the United Nations general assembly.

This year, the Trump administration’s anti-environmental blitz threw a massive shadow over the event. In appearances through the week, White House officials aimed to peg its rule-cutting agenda as a victory to reduce Americans’ bills, with Trump calling green energy a “fraud” and Wright saying: “The more people have gotten into so-called climate action, the more expensive their energy has become.”

Climate advocates attempted to expose those claims as false while persuading Americans to support with green policies on the basis that they can lower costs. For instance, two Democratic representatives, from Illinois and California, introduced a plan to accelerate new power-line construction and reinstate green energy incentives which Trump repealed earlier this year.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 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 nice-to-have [concern], not a must-have, and right now they’re in the must-have mode,” she told reporters over avocado toast one morning. “Affordability is key.”

Those significantly Granholm’s progressive side also called for a focus on affordability in the climate fight. But many demanded more ambitious solutions that provide more quick benefits. Instead of merely tinkering with the tax code to incentivize green technology expansion – 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 decarbonized public housing.

“These kinds of programs do have decarbonization benefits, but they’re highly important for starting to build up a broad support [who have] faith 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 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 dance party at the legendary Sounds of Brazil music venue to honor the candidate’s success.

“It has long been understood 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 thrum of Charli xcx.

Messaging is critical, but merely speaking 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 reducing bills as giving huge benefits to oil giants and other corporations. And many Democrats are also guilty of prioritizing 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 frustration for a long time,” she said. “We need to focus on actually bringing relief to people. And we see that when we genuinely center people over profit, people react to that. People can tell who is sincere.”

Further Reading:

• US energy department tightens rules on workers’ use of climate crisis language
• Trump administration allocating $625m to revive declining coal industry
• Los Angeles pledged to host the Olympics without breaking the bank and environment. Is it possible?