https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2024/07/23/kamala-harris-climate-change-environment/
At the top of President Biden’s letter announcing his withdrawal from his reelection campaign, he staked a major legacy claim, saying his administration passed “the most significant climate legislation in the history of the world.”
Now environmental groups and voters have begun parsing how
Vice President Harris — and her possible running mates — might be different from Biden on key questions of climate change, the movement away from fossil fuels, and environmental regulation.
While climate issues might not be decisive in swing states in November, this election has enormous implications for the trajectory of the
U.S.’s carbon emissions in coming years. The Biden administration has put the country on a path to lower planet-warming emissions by funding the transition to clean energy. Former president
Donald Trump, the
Republican nominee, has been hostile to the idea of climate change and unabashedly pro-fossil fuels.
Environmentalists have long praised Harris’s commitment to climate and environmental issues, beginning when she was a local elected official in California. She created an environmental justice office while district attorney in San Francisco, prioritized electric school buses, opposed drilling on public lands, and defended California’s push to require less-polluting cars. As a senator, she was an original
sponsor of the Green New Deal.
The League of Conservation Voters has given Harris a near-perfect lifetime voting record on environmental issues. Prominent environmentalists praised the Biden administration’s climate policies and said they would be in good hands if Harris were to move to the top of the ticket.
Monday evening, a group of prominent environmental groups, including the Sierra Club and the political advocacy arms of LCV and the Natural Resources Defense Council, endorsed Harris’s campaign.
“I think these issues really are core to who she is, and she cares deeply,” said Tiernan Sittenfeld, senior vice president for government affairs at the League of Conservation Voters. “I think she would be rock solid and determined to carry on and build on the progress of this administration.”
