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At formal United Nations media briefings, in luxurious auditoriums and at crowded socialist celebrations, one word was on everyone’s minds at this year’s Climate Week NYC: affordability.

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

The effort to link everyday cost issues to global warming is longstanding. The idea was a central part of the Green New Deal, a forward-thinking 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 signature green carbon-cutting policy the Inflation Reduction Act, from 2022.

Now, as energy costs rise around the country, Americans on all sides of the ideological divide are framing their energy and climate proposals as methods to protect ordinary people’s finances.

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In Focus

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

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

Climate advocates worked to reveal those statements as inaccurate while getting Americans to support with green policies on the grounds that they can lower 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 canceled earlier this year. Its title: the Cheap Energy Act.

It’s a strategy that Jennifer Granholm, who acted as US energy secretary under Biden, said she anticipated as climate slips down the list of political concerns 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 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 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 focus on less wonky, “green economic populist” campaigns such as fare-free 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] 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 socialist who achieved a remarkable win in the New York City mayoral primary this summer, represents this kind of agenda, said Hassan. On Wednesday of Climate Week, activists assembled for a celebration at the legendary Sounds of Brazil music venue to honor the candidate’s success.

“It has long been recognized that if we’re going to create a broad coalition, people need to see the link 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 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 while handing massive benefits to oil giants and other corporations. And many Democrats are also guilty of prioritizing their business backers’ interests, Avilés said.

“Some people talk about everyday 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 providing relief to people. And we see that when we really prioritize people over profit, people respond to that. People can tell who is for real.”

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