Faced with an affordability crisis and rising energy demands, Gov. Kathy Hochul has slowed progress on New York’s efforts to fight climate change.

As recently as last year, New York was considered a trailblazer in tackling climate change. With aggressive laws on the books, the state had planned to nearly eliminate greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

But New York’s environmental agenda, as embodied in its landmark 2019 climate law, has stalled under the watch of Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has said that political and economic conditions have shifted and the state has had to adapt.

The governor, a Democrat, is now dealing with a president who is hostile to renewable energy and has called climate change a “con job.” She is among the many governors around the country grappling with an affordability crisis, with fast-rising utility bills a main complaint. And she faces soaring energy demands, with electricity experts warning of a possible shortfall in New York City as soon as next summer.

The governor has said that “we need to govern in reality.” Her priority now is “to keep the lights and heat on and rates down for New Yorkers,” said Ken Lovett, Ms. Hochul’s senior communications adviser on energy and environment.

Some critics of the governor, however, say that such reasoning is shortsighted in the face of the existential threat of climate change. Environmental activists and some officials in her own party have accused Ms. Hochul of abandoning the state’s climate law for politically expedient reasons; the governor faces a re-election bid next year.

“We’re in a moment where it’s incredibly important for New York State to lead on energy affordability and climate,” said Liz Moran, a New York policy advocate for Earthjustice, an environmental nonprofit. “Unfortunately over the past year, we’ve seen the governor run toward the opposite direction.”

While some business leaders support the governor’s push to use more natural gas and nuclear energy to supply the state’s grid, critics say that her focus on affordability has shaped several policy decisions that have undermined the state’s climate goals.

Some of Ms. Hochul’s moves in the past year have alarmed climate activists and like-minded Democratic leaders. She has embraced energy-hungry tech ventures, including a bitcoin mining operation in the Finger Lakes region. State officials recently agreed to a settlement, after years of litigation, to extend the life of the gas plant that powers the facility. She also backed a plan for an offshore natural gas pipeline near New York City that had previously been rejected three times because of environmental concerns.

Ms. Hochul’s administration delayed the implementation of an all-electric buildings law passed in 2023 that would have banned gas power in a wide swath of new construction. And the governor has not taken full advantage of a 2023 law that enables the state to develop publicly owned renewable-energy projects, though Ms. Hochul was among those who cheered a judge’s decision this week to strike down President Trump’s halt on wind projects on federal property.

Perhaps the loudest complaints, however, are tied to the 2019 climate law. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the ambitious legislation calls for New York to get 70 percent of its electricity from renewable sources like wind, solar and hydropower by 2030 and to shift entirely to carbon-free power a decade later.

But the state is at least six years late in meeting its first target of a 40 percent decrease in planet-warming pollution by 2030. And full implementation of the law is not possible without its accompanying regulations, which the state is two years late in putting into effect. The sticking point is the centerpiece of the law, called cap and invest, which would charge polluters for exceeding emissions limits and use those proceeds to invest in renewable projects and energy-efficiency initiatives.

In the spring, several environmental groups, including Earthjustice, sued the state, arguing that it was in violation of the climate law. By October, a judge agreed, ordering officials to publish the missing regulations by early February. The governor has appealed, saying she needs more time to review and possibly amend the rules.

Ms. Hochul’s delay is similar to her approach to the rollout of congestion pricing in 2024, when she temporarily paused the tolling program to consider the financial burden on New Yorkers, said Michael B. Gerrard, an environmental law professor at Columbia.

Requiring fossil fuel companies to pay fees through a cap and invest program, Mr. Gerrard said, could lead to an increase in some consumer prices, like the cost of electricity. In New York, where power rates are already 50 percent higher than the national average, natural gas remains the largest source of fuel for electricity.

In a poll this year, most New Yorkers surveyed said they believed that keeping energy costs low was more important than decreasing greenhouse gas emissions.

State Senator Liz Krueger said that the cap and invest program would help accomplish both those aims. Her office cited one report that said households making under $200,000 a year would benefit from the policies subsidized by the program.

New York is still a leader on clean energy, Mr. Lovett of the governor’s office said. The state has exceeded its goals for the generation of solar energy, and supported two key private projects: a major offshore wind farm near Long Island and a transmission line that will deliver hydropower from Canada to New York City next year, he said. Ms. Hochul also announced a $1 billion investment fund earmarked for various renewable projects, including emissions reduction, over the next five years.

Critics of Ms. Hochul’s climate agenda have said they would also like to see the climate law back on track. The law’s cap and invest program has the potential to raise $5 billion a year or more, said Justin Flagg, the director of communications and environmental policy for Ms. Krueger.

And some of the business ventures backed by the governor are the same ones stoking the growing demand for energy.

Ms. Hochul wants to make the state a hub for tech companies, which can be energy-intensive. Currently in development is a $100 billion memory chip facility in Central New York that is projected to gobble up enough electricity to power nearly 1.5 million homes. Supporters of the project point out that as many as 50,000 jobs could be created.

New York’s business ambitions and emissions reduction goals are working at cross purposes, said Zilvinas Silenas, president of the Empire Center for Public Policy, an Albany think tank. “They are a train wreck in slow motion.”

The state faces an increase of up to 24 percent in annual electricity demand by 2040, according to the most recent draft of its energy plan. Aware of the mounting needs, Ms. Hochul has endorsed an “all-of-the-above” approach to energy instead of a singular focus on renewables. This, she has said, should help keep utility bills low.

Some experts say that these solutions, however, are time-consuming to build and expensive. Nuclear plants take years to construct and cost billions of dollars, and utility customers often end up footing the bill for gas infrastructure.

This month, Ms. Hochul has an opportunity to curb gas costs by amending a law that requires utilities to provide automatic gas hookups to new customers. Getting rid of the rule could result in about $581 million of savings on bills every year, according to a new analysis.

The governor is reviewing the legislation, Mr. Lovett said.

Ms. Krueger called the repeal of the rule, as well as programs like cap and invest, “critical affordability measures that we can’t afford to delay.”

Hilary Howard is a Times reporter covering how the New York City region is adapting to climate change and other environmental challenges.

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