The climate activists from all over the world who poured into Gotham for Climate Week have been abuzz over the likelihood that New York will elect a Climate Mayor — Zohran Mamdani.

Last week some of them sipped cocktails at a fundraiser to benefit a newly launched Mamdani-backing PAC called New Yorkers for Lower Costs.

That name is a lie. Plain and simple. 

The massive decarbonization Mamdani advocates will raise energy costs, not lower them, for businesses, homeowners and renters. 

Switching to nonpolluting energy sources may be worthwhile, but we deserve the whole truth about the consequences — and we’re getting lies and doubletalk from Mamdani.

Meanwhile, New Yorkers are in a frenzy over the steady rise in their ConEd bills. 

Mamdani vows to oppose ConEd’s latest rate hike request, scheduled for January 2026, which if approved will make the average monthly residential bill $154 higher than in 2020. Ouch.

But Mamdani’s proposed cure for soaring rates is absurd: He wants to replace reliance on ConEd with “green” power from New York state’s Power Authority. 

It’s a pie-in-the-sky scheme that’s even less practical than his plan for city-owned grocery stores, which similarly casts any private-sector business as a greedy, price-gouging hobgoblin.

In fact, Con Ed is tightly regulated by the state. Its rates are scrutinized for nearly a year by a governor-appointed board that holds numerous public hearings.

Accusations of profiteering are nothing but demagoguery.

On top of that, Mamdani’s platform claims he’ll force rate reductions by funding lefty nonprofits to serve as “intervenors” challenging ConEd — a pointless exercise.

But he’ll spend $3 million of taxpayer cash on this gravy-train project for his supporters. 

What he never admits is that the state’s green energy agenda, enacted in Albany’s 2019 Climate Action Plan, is what’s really making utility rates soar.  

Our politicians promised a “green economic renaissance,”  but that “claim does not withstand scrutiny,” according to the Manhattan Institute’s Jonathan Lesser. 

New York state is one of the most expensive places in the US to buy energy — and the gap between New Yorkers’ energy bills and those of ratepayers in the rest of the country is growing.

That discourages business development and sends families looking for a cheaper place to live.

In the last five years, more than 40% of New Yorkers have fallen behind on their ConEd bills, and 23% of households were disconnected at least once. No fridge, no A/C, what a mess!

Now Mamdani is aggressively vowing to enforce a law requiring buildings in New York City over 25,000 square feet to convert from oil or natural gas to electric heat. 

That change will increase the demand for electricity — and send electric prices soaring even higher, according to Zilvinas Silenas of the Empire Center. 

Yet last week Mamdani supporters launched a new independent-expenditure committee targeting black condo and co-op owners, telling them that Mamdani’s climate policies, including his plan to force electric-heat conversions, would save them money.

It’s a flat-out lie: Local Law 97 will put a crushing burden on those very homeowners, with no tangible benefit to either the climate or their wallets.

The frightening truth is that Mamdani is more passionate about greening New York City than helping New Yorkers afford life and raise families here.

“Affordability” is a convenient campaign slogan, but he’s been a longtime climate-change zealot, calling it the “existential crisis of our time.”

That explains Mamdani’s otherwise senseless support for congestion pricing, which slams outer-borough workers with a $9 toll just to get to their Midtown Manhattan jobs. Forget affording lunch.

His climate fanaticism even infects his barely-there platform on public education. 

Unlike most New Yorkers, who depend on public schools to give their children a chance to succeed, Mamdani went to the pricey private Bank Street School as a kid.

So he couldn’t care less that 40% of grammar school kids in New York fail the state’s standardized math and reading tests. 

Instead of outlining any programs to improve learning, his priority is reducing our schools’ carbon footprint.

He wants to pour money into projects to renovate 500 schools, switching them to renewable energy and replacing their asphalt schoolyards with green spaces. 

Never mind that Johnny can’t read. Ridiculous.

Climate activists are canvassing all over the city for Mamdani, pushing these nonsensical notions. 

No doubt New Yorkers are concerned about climate change, but for most of us, going green at any cost just doesn’t work.

Mamdani promises to make our lives affordable again. In truth, his climate policies will scorch the average household.

Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant governor of New York and co-founder of SAVENYC.org.