Follow the hottest Last summer, the final question ABC debate moderators asked Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump was: “What would you do to fight climate change?”
Harris criticized Trump for calling climate change a “hoax,” noting that it is “very real,” poses physical risks to Americans, and costs them a lot of money. She also praised the Biden administration’s investments in renewable energy, as well as record domestic gas production, on the other hand.
Trump, for his part, completely ignored the question. He talked about the auto plants being built in China and said he would impose tariffs on some imported cars. He then claimed that “Biden doesn’t go after people because China paid him millions of dollars.” The former president offered no plans to combat climate change.
Asked about the issue during a debate with President Joe Biden in June, Trump also refused to commit to doing anything about climate change. “In my four years, I had the best environmental numbers ever,” he said, despite catering to the fossil fuel industry throughout his time in office.
He’s sure to do so in a potential second term, too. Trump has reportedly asked oil CEOs for $1 billion in campaign contributions in exchange for rolling back many of Biden’s environmental regulations. He’s also promised to speed up oil mergers.
During his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, Trump mocked the Green New Deal, a policy proposal to address climate change. “They’ve spent trillions of dollars on things that are part of the Green New Deal. It’s a hoax,” he said. (The Biden administration did not pass the Green New Deal.)
“President Trump is committed to unleashing American energy resources like coal, oil and gas to ensure affordability for families and security around the world by making us a more self-sufficient nation,” senior Trump adviser Brian Hughes said in a statement this summer.
Trump has long downplayed climate change, telling Fox News in June that sea level rise “basically means you have more property on the beach, right?” He has repeated that line often, even though the opposite is true.
Harris has said she will build on the Biden administration’s record, and she has received support from environmental activists. One piece of legislation Biden could build on is the Inflation Reduction Act, which the Environmental Protection Agency calls “the most significant climate legislation in U.S. history.” It provides funding and other incentives to encourage a shift to renewable energy.
As California's attorney general, Harris helped bring criminal charges against a pipeline over an oil spill. She also launched an investigation into ExxonMobil over whether it lied about the risks of climate change. “She's talked about the need to address the climate crisis, hold Big Oil accountable, and tout her record as attorney general,” Stevie O'Hanlon, a spokesman for the Sunrise Movement, told NPR.
