The Progressive Policy Institute released a report Jan. 8 warning that New Jersey’s climate mandates are driving a policy-induced affordability crisis that functions as an “Activist Tax” on households, raising energy costs, straining the power grid and threatening public support for emissions reduction.
As electricity prices surge and clean energy projects stall, the report finds that politically driven mandates are colliding with economic reality that disproportionately burden working families.
Electricity prices surged about 20% for many New Jersey electricity customers beginning in June of last year.
The report, titled “New Jersey: Ambitious Goals Meet Reality,” is the second in a PPI series examining how rigid climate mandates and technology-specific requirements can unintentionally impose higher costs on consumers, what the authors describe as an “Activist Tax,” when affordability and grid reliability are treated as secondary concerns.
“New Jersey has already picked the low-hanging fruit,” said Neel Brown, managing director at PPI. “What remains are the hardest and most expensive steps, and when policymakers ignore affordability, those costs become an ‘Activist Tax’ paid by working families. That’s how you lose public support for climate action altogether.”
Authored by Brown and John Kemp, an internationally recognized energy markets expert, the report finds that New Jersey’s strong emissions record reflects structural advantages, not recent policy mandates, meaning today’s high-cost requirements deliver diminishing climate returns while increasing the “Activist Tax” on residents.
Despite this strong baseline, the state’s current energy strategy is increasingly strained by rising costs, grid constraints, and delayed clean energy projects. With energy affordability a top focus for Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill, New Jersey faces a critical opportunity to recalibrate its approach before mounting pressures undermine both climate progress and political support.
Key findings from the report include:
- Left- and right-wing ideological interventions are imposing an “Activist Tax” on New Jersey, with supply constrained by rigid climate mandates and Trump’s war on wind and renewable energy, driving up electricity prices and household energy bills.
- Electricity prices in New Jersey surged nearly 20% in 2025, one of the highest increases in the nation, driven by capacity constraints and growing demand from data centers.
- New Jersey’s emissions per capita (10 tons) and per economic output (137 tons per $1M GDP) are among the lowest in the country, largely because of urban density and a service-based economy, not new energy technologies.
- The state’s 2050 climate mandates require an 82% cut in building emissions and a 62% cut in electricity generation emissions, calling for a sweeping transformation in home heating and power generation.
- More than 90% of New Jersey’s electricity still comes from natural gas and nuclear, with minimal deployment of wind or solar. The planned 11 gigawatts of offshore wind is delayed following the Trump administration’s suspension of federal leases.
- The convergence of rising demand, shrinking supply and surging costs is threatening the state’s climate timeline and eroding public support, especially among low- and moderate-income households.
The report urges policymakers to pivot toward outcome-based policies, prioritize clean, firm baseload power, and treat affordability as a core metric of climate success.
