The states that saved climate policy are folding

New York has weakened a landmark climate law, and critics argue the move comes just as clean energy becomes increasingly cost-competitive

Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg via Getty Images

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Last month, New York rolled back its landmark climate law after Governor Kathy Hochul pushed for it, arguing the cost was too high for residents. The state was among roughly two dozen to pass sweeping climate legislation in the early 2020s. Now it is the first to retreat, and activists worry it will not be the last.

As energy bills climb and politicians reach for any lever that might ease the pain, the temptation to scapegoat climate policy grows. But the irony is that while the politics have soured, the underlying economics have quietly shifted in ways that make the rollback look less like pragmatism and more like bad timing.

When Trump pulled the country out of the Paris Agreement in 2017, a coalition of Democratic governors decided to prove that states could lead where the federal government would not. What started as a handful of states grew into a bipartisan........

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