Newsom Went To A U.N. Climate Summit In Brazil Where He Told Lies About “Green Affordability”

The Inconvenient Truth: The Quixotic Agenda To Reduce Human-Created Carbon Emissions Is Horribly Expensive

⏱ 4.5 min read

Newsom’s Jedi Mind Trick: “Costly Regulations and Fees Make Things More Affordable”

Governor Gavin Newsom is trying out a new message. Speaking last week at a United Nations climate summit in Brazil, he told reporters that Democrats should “frame climate change as part of a broader affordability conversation.” He said it’s really about “economic power” and “cost of living.”

That’s a clever way to describe policies that have made California one of the most expensive states in America to live, drive, or do business. Californians don’t need a new narrative—they need relief from soaring costs. Newsom can try to rebrand his climate crusade, but voters see the truth every time they open a bill, buy groceries, or fill their tank. His policies aren’t affordable, and repeating the word won’t make them any cheaper.

The Real Reason California Is So Expensive

The cost of living in California didn’t rise by accident. It rose because Sacramento piled on taxes, fees, and regulations—all wrapped in “climate action” slogans. Each rule added a little more to the cost of gas, electricity, housing, and food. Together, they’ve pushed everyday costs higher for working families.

Take Newsom’s favorite talking point: California’s cap-and-trade program. It forces businesses to buy permits to emit carbon. Businesses inevitably push those expenses onto consumers.

Mandates That Punish Families, Not Polluters

If this were truly about affordability, the state would trust people with choices. Instead, Sacramento imposes mandates: buy an electric car by a certain date, swap out gas appliances, convert to all-electric systems, comply with costly construction codes.

These rules hit working families hardest. Sacramento creates the problem with higher costs and then pretends to soften the blow with subsidies—funded by the same taxpayers struggling to absorb the mandates. It’s government control wrapped in the language of compassion.

The state should focus on making essentials affordable—not dictating how families live.

California’s Climate Math Doesn’t Pencil Out

Even if every California resident disappeared tomorrow, global carbon emissions would barely change. California produces less than one percent of the world’s total. And in just the last few years, California’s wildfires have pumped enough carbon dioxide into the atmosphere to effectively wipe out the greenhouse-gas “savings” state leaders have claimed for decades.

Yet Newsom boasts that his green mandates make California a “global leader.” In reality, they’ve turned California into a warning for other states. Families are paying record-high electricity and gasoline prices, and small businesses are closing because they can’t absorb the cost of compliance.

A Real Affordability Agenda — Not Newsom’s Version

If the governor were serious about making life more affordable, he would stop hiding costly mandates behind slogans and start dismantling the policies that drive prices higher. A genuine affordability agenda would start by rethinking the regulatory burden. No climate rule should take effect unless it can prove it lowers the cost of living.

Next, California must embrace abundant, reliable energy—especially nuclear power. The state should fast-track natural-gas facilities, nuclear generation, new transmission lines, and grid-strengthening projects. “Green leadership” is meaningless if the lights don’t stay on.

Affordability also requires restoring consumer choice. Families need the freedom to select vehicles, appliances, heating systems, and building materials that fit their budgets. Mandates drive up costs, and Sacramento’s subsidy cycles simply mask the damage.

Equally important is shifting from punishment to prevention. Real environmental responsibility means forest management, infrastructure hardening, and supply-chain improvements—not targeting truckers, homeowners, and small businesses who keep California functioning.

Finally, California should promote environmental stewardship through education, not coercion. A free society depends on individual liberty paired with individual responsibility. Californians don’t need authoritarian mandates to care about the environment. They need the freedom and information to make responsible decisions themselves.

That’s real affordability—not the version Newsom tries to sell.

So, Does It Matter?

Newsom’s new message at the U.N. wasn’t a policy shift — it was a political rehearsal. He’s testing talking points for a national campaign.

But the numbers don’t lie. Californians are paying more for energy, housing, transportation, food, and basic daily living because of the very policies he now claims are helping them. This isn’t a messaging problem; it’s a governing problem.

California is now the national case study in how aggressive climate mandates drive up the cost of living. That’s not a talking point — it’s lived reality. And as Newsom campaigns beyond California, he will have to explain why the state he governs became unaffordable under policies he now wants to export. That is not a footnote. It’s the flaw that will define him.

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Another Column To Read - This piece, by me, ran in the California Globe last year. It still holds up…

California’s Carbon Crusade: A Reckless Assault on Prudence

California’s leaders let the poor subsidize their eco-fantasies, driving misery for minimal gain

Click here to read the full column at the California Globe.

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