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During stuffy UN press conferences, in luxurious halls and at sticky progressive dance parties, one term was on all minds at this year’s Climate Week NYC: affordability.

The US energy secretary, Chris Wright, said that during President Trump the United States is “returning to commonsense energy policies that focus on affordability”. The previous energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm, emphasized Democrats must center on renewable power’s ability to reduce power bills to secure elections. And advocates of the almost certainly soon-to-be New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani, trumpeted their initiatives to link green policies with actions to lower city residents’ rent and ensure transit affordable.

The effort to link everyday cost issues to global warming is longstanding. The idea 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 adopted the approach in the White House, calling his signature green carbon-cutting policy the Inflation Reduction Act, from 2022.

Now, as utility bills soar around the country, Americans on all sides of the ideological divide are framing their energy and climate plans as ways to safeguard everyday citizens’ pocketbooks.

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In Focus

Every year, Climate Week in New York City brings together government officials, business representatives, scholars and campaigners for a wide range of climate-focused events, timed to coincide with the United Nations general assembly.

This year, the Trump administration’s environment-deregulating blitz threw a massive shadow over the event. In speeches through the week, White House officials sought to frame its deregulatory agenda as a win to lower 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.”

Environmental supporters attempted to expose those claims as inaccurate while persuading Americans to support 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 reinstate green energy incentives which Trump canceled earlier this year. Its name: the Cheap Energy Act.

It’s a strategy that Jennifer Granholm, who acted as US energy secretary under Biden, said she expected as climate slips down the list of public priorities 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 must-have, and right now they’re in the must-have mode,” she told reporters during avocado toast one morning. “Affordability is key.”

Those significantly Granholm’s left also called for a focus on affordability in the climate fight. But many demanded more far-reaching solutions that provide more quick benefits. Instead of merely tinkering with the tax code to encourage green technology buildout – a signature of Biden’s climate efforts – politicians should prioritize less technical, “green economic populist” campaigns such as fare-free transit and the build-out of decarbonized public housing.

“These kinds of programs do have emissions-reduction benefits, but they’re extremely important for starting to build up a broad support [who have] trust 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 left-wing who secured a stunning win in the New York City mayoral primary this summer, embodies this kind of platform, said Hassan. On Wednesday of Climate Week, progressives gathered for a dance party at the renowned Sounds of Brazil music venue to celebrate the candidate’s success.

“It has long been understood that if we’re going to create a mass movement, people need to see the link between the shift to renewable energy and spending less money,” New York City comptroller Brad Lander said in an interview at the party, shouting over the thrum of Charli xcx.

Communication is important, but merely talking about affordability is not enough, Alexa Avilés, a New York City council member and democratic socialist, told the Guardian at the Mamdani event. Trump, for instance, has not delivered to deliver on his promise of lowering bills as handing massive 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 dealing 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 really prioritize people over profit, people react to that. People can tell who is for real.”

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