Electric cars, fracking, LNG: How do Harris and Trump compare on key climate issues?

With US elections scheduled for November, the superpower’s approach to climate change hangs in the balance.

After a summer with four of the hottest days on record, presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have vastly different views on how to combat climate change while ensuring reliable energy supplies.

While Harris has not yet developed a detailed climate action plan, Trump has made it clear that he intends to roll back many of the Biden administration’s “kamikaze climate rules.”

The last Trump administration saw attempts to roll back more than 100 environmental protections. Allies of the former president say that with a conservative judiciary, including the Supreme Court, and loyalists installed throughout the government, Trump will have an easier time rolling back the rules this time.

When the world falls ‘miles shy’ of global emissions targets And Warming of 3.1°C expected this centuryThe UN has warned that “the time for a climate crisis has come.”

Whoever occupies the White House will determine what role the United States plays as a major emitter at this critical time in the climate crisis.

Trump vs. Harris: Their Position on the Climate Crisis

During her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, Harris briefly mentioned climate change, outlining the “fundamental freedoms” at stake in the election.

This included “the freedom to breathe clean air, drink clean water and live free of the pollution that fuels the climate crisis.”

Being a senator from CaliforniaShe was an early sponsor of the Green New Deal, a series of sweeping proposals aimed at rapidly transitioning the United States to an all-green energy economy championed by the party’s most progressive wing.

Her campaign also underplayed the importance of U.S. leadership on climate change and economic growth through sustainable initiatives.

Former President TrumpMeanwhile, he led chants of “coach, baby, coach” and vowed to destroy the Biden administration’s “new green scam” in his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention. He promised to increase production fossil fuel such as oil, natural gas and coal, and repeal key parts of the 2022 climate law.

“We have more liquid gold under our feet than any other country,” Trump said at the convention. “We are a nation that has the opportunity to get rich from our energy.”

When Hurricane Helen and Hurricane Milton hit the United States, causing death and destruction, scientists warned that climate change was likely fueling the powerful storms. After this, Trump once again called climate change “one of the greatest frauds of all time.”

Harris: “Climate Defender” or Supporter of Unfair Rules?

Environmental groups that largely support Harris call her a “proven climate advocate” who will take on Big Oil and build on Biden’s climate legacy, including policies that boost electric vehicle development and limit planet-warming pollution from coal-fired power plants.

“We will not go back to climate denial in the Oval Office,” said Lena Moffitt, executive director of Evergreen Action.

Republicans object to this Biden and Harris spent four years passing “punitive regulations” targeting American energy while providing generous tax breaks for electric vehicles and other environmental priorities that cost taxpayers billions of dollars.

“This onslaught of excessive and outrageous climate regulations will shut down power plants and increase energy costs for families across the country,” said Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming. “republicans Let’s work to stop them and fight for solutions that protect our air and water and allow our economy to grow.”

Democrats have a clear advantage on this issue. More than half of US adults say they trust Harris “a lot” or “a little” when it comes to addressing climate change, according to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll conducted in July.

About seven in 10 say they have “not much” or “not at all” trust in Trump when it comes to climate change. Fewer than half say they lack confidence in Harris.

What position do Trump and Harris take on fracking and offshore drilling?

Harris said during her short-lived 2020 presidential campaign that she opposed offshore drilling for oil and hydraulic fracturing, the process of extracting oil and gas more commonly known as hydraulic fracturing.

But her campaign has made it clear that she no longer supports the ban. hydraulic fracturinga common drilling practice critical to the economy of Pennsylvania, a key swing state and the nation’s second-largest natural gas producer.

“As vice president, I did not ban fracking. As president I will not ban hydraulic fracturing” Harris told CNN on Thursday in her first major television interview as a nominee. “We can grow… a thriving clean energy economy without banning fracking.”

Kevin Book, managing director of Washington research firm ClearView Energy Partners, said Harris’s shifting views show she is “trying to balance pro-climate voters and pro-industry voters,” even as her campaign takes “contradictory positions” with oil and gas industry general.

Harris and Democrats cited new rules approved by the climate law to increase royalties, which oil and gas companies pay to drill or mine on public lands. She also supports efforts to clean up old drilling sites and cap abandoned wells that frequently spew methane and other pollutants.

Trump, who as president has pushed to roll back many environmental laws, says his goal is for the United States to have the cheapest energy and electricity in the world. He would increase oil drilling on public lands, offer tax incentives to oil, gas and coal producers and speed up approval of gas pipelines.

His platform aims for the US to become “energy independent and even dominant again.”

Trump and Harris on electric cars

Trump has often criticized tough new vehicle emissions rules introduced by Biden, mistakenly calling them a “mandate” for electric vehicles.

EPA rules issued this spring target tailpipe emissions from cars and trucks and encourage, but do not require, sales of new electric vehicles to meet new standards.

Trump said the production of electric vehicles would destroy jobs in the auto industry. However, in recent months he has softened his rhetoric, saying he favors a “very small share” of cars electric.

The changes come after Tesla CEO Elon Musk “I got a lot of support,” Trump said at an August rally in Atlanta. Even so, industry officials expect Trump to roll back Biden’s push for electric vehicles and try to roll back tax breaks that Trump argues benefit China.

Harris has not announced an electric vehicle plan but has strongly supported it. electric cars as vice president. At a 2022 event in Seattle, it received about $1 billion (€926 million) in federal grants to purchase about 2,500 “clean” school buses. About 25 million children ride the familiar yellow buses every school day, and with a cleaner fleet, they will have a healthier future, Harris said.

Grants and other federal climate programs are aimed not only at “saving our children, but saving our planet for them,” she said.

The Impact of Climate Costs on US Jobs

As vice president, Harris cast the deciding vote on Inflation Reduction Actpresident Joe Bidena landmark climate bill that only passed with Democratic support.

Harris is focused on implementing the bipartisan $1 trillion (€904 trillion) infrastructure bill passed in 2021, as well as climate provisions Inflation Reduction Actwhich provided almost $375 billion (€339 billion) in financial incentives for electric vehicles and clean energy projects.

Under Biden and Harris, American manufacturers created more than 250,000 jobs in the energy sector Last year, clean energy accounted for more than half of those jobs, according to the Department of Energy. “America is more energy secure than ever before, thanks to the highest level of domestic energy production in history,” Harris’ campaign said.

Trump and his running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vancederide climate change spending as a “money grab” for environmental groups and say it will send American jobs to China and other countries while driving up domestic energy prices.

“Kamala Harris cares more about climate change than inflation” Vance wrote in an article in The Wall Street Journal.

In September, when he unveiled part of his economic policy, Trump said his plan would “end the Green New Deal, which I call the New Green Fraud, and cancel all unspent funds under the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act.” .

Trump is promising to end wind energy subsidies included in the climate bill and roll back regulations introduced and proposed by the Biden administration to make light bulbs more energy efficient. ovensdishwashers and shower heads.

Trump and Harris on the Paris Agreement

Trump, who called climate change “falsification“, withdrew the United States from the 2015 agreement. Paris Climate Agreement. He has vowed to do so again in his second term, calling a global plan to cut carbon emissions unworkable and a gift to China and other big polluters.

He recently called the agreement a “rip-off” and there has been some speculation that Trump might even try to pull the US out of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) treaty that underpins the agreement.

This will prevent the country from participating in future international climate change negotiations.

The US returned to the Paris Agreement shortly after Biden took office in 2021, and Harris called the pact crucial to addressing climate change and protecting “our children’s future.”

What position do Trump and Harris take on LNG?

After approval of numerous export projects liquefied natural gasor LNG, the Biden administration in January suspended consideration of building new natural gas export terminals. The delay allows officials to analyze the economic and climate impacts of natural gas, a methane-emitting fossil fuel that produces powerful greenhouse gas.

The decision brought the Democratic president closer to environmentalists who fear recent increases in LNG exports generate potentially catastrophic planet-warming emissions, even as Biden has pledged to cut climate pollution in half by 2030.

Trump said he would approve the terminals “the first day I get back” to office.

Harris has not outlined plans for LNG exports, but analysts expect her to impose tough climate standards on export projects as part of her broader stance against major oil and gas companies.