- On Thursday, the Democratic presidential candidates discussed their plans to tackle climate change during the sixth Democratic primary debate.
- Here's where each of the Democratic frontrunners stands on important policy issues related to our warming planet and how the US should approach the threat.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
On Thursday, the frontrunners in the Democratic presidential primary race came together for their sixth debate.
While discussions about climate change have largely been absent from debate stages in past elections, the seven candidates spent 13 minutes expounding on their climate platforms on Thursday.
Much of the conversation centered on what to do about the parts of the US where residents face the biggest climate-related risks.
Entrepreneur Andrew Yang re-affirmed his promise to help Americans living in places vulnerable to the effects of climate change to relocate. Sen. Bernie Sanders said he thinks moving people to new homes is a poor approach to the climate problem. Sen. Amy Klobuchar split the difference, suggesting moving only individual homes, not whole cities. And former vice president Joe Biden said the US should build stronger infrastructure, rather than relocate anyone.
Each of the top Democratic primary candidates — even latecomers Michael Bloomberg and Tom Steyer — has a climate plan (to the tune of billions, if not trillions of dollars) to help save the planet from the potentially catastrophic consequences of climate change.
Here's a brief overview of where each of them (ordered alphabetically by last name) stand on important climate-related issues like carbon taxes, offshore drilling, and a net-zero carbon economy.
The candidates agree on many ideas about how the US should address climate change.
Nearly every candidate has said that the US should recommit to the Paris climate agreement. President Donald Trump has initiated the process of withdrawing the US from the agreement, though it won’t be completed until November 2020.
Every Democrat in the race also supports halting new leases for oil and gas drilling on public lands. Most have also suggested putting a price on carbon emissions.
"If we did everything perfectly, everything — and we must and should in order to get other countries to move — we still have to get the rest of the world to come along," Joe Biden said during a CNN town hall in September.
Price on carbon emissions: Supports a carbon tax.
Net-zero carbon emissions: By 2050.
Nuclear energy: Willing to leave it on the table as an energy option. Biden’s climate plan includes support for research into nuclear-waste disposal systems.
Green New Deal: He’s “not opposed to it” and has said it “deserves an enormous amount of credit.” But Biden has noted that the plan lacks details about how to achieve its aims.
Fracking: Biden opposes opening up federal lands to new natural-gas drilling, but doesn’t support a full fracking ban.
Offshore drilling: “Pursue a global moratorium.”
Notable statements:
Biden said on Thursday that sacrificing growth in the oil and gas sectors, as well as the associated jobs, is necessary to establish a green economy.
“We shouldn’t build another new highway in America that doesn’t have EV charging stations on it,” he said.
Biden’s climate plan can be found here.
Cost: $1.7 trillion.
Former New York City mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg said he'd strive to close all 251 remaining coal plants in the US.
Price on carbon emissions: Bloomberg endorsed a carbon tax in 2007. His new climate plan does not mention putting any price on carbon, though he wants to end fossil-fuel subsidies.
Net-zero carbon emissions: He wants a clean-energy economy by 2050. By 2030, he wants to slash emissions by 50% across the US.
Nuclear energy: In June, one of Bloomberg’s aides told Axios that he doesn’t have a “hard stance” on nuclear. “We’ll pursue all of the options available, including nuclear,” the aide said. “If nuclear is determined to be the best alternative to coal, oil ,and gas, our work will support it.”
Green New Deal: Thinks it’s a no-go. In March, Bloomberg wrote an opinion piece that said the Green New Deal “stands no chance of passage in the Senate over the next two years.” So he thinks climate advocates needed to pursue alternative approaches.
Fracking: Bloomberg doesn’t seem likely to ban fracking. “I think it’s fair to say fracking is the only way we are going to get gas and oil out of the ground,” he said earlier this month, according to Reuters. “The real issue is having regulations where they don’t have leaks.”
Notable climate work:
Bloomberg wants 80% of the country’s electricity to come from clean sources by 2028.
Eight years ago, he helped the non-profit Sierra Club start Beyond Coal, a campaign to shut US coal plants. This year, he founded Beyond Carbon, a group pushing for energy reform and electric vehicles.
Bloomberg also funded America’s Pledge in 2017 — a group of states, cities, and business people who agreed to honor the country’s commitment to the Paris climate agreement despite the Trump administration’s intent to pull the US out.
Bloomberg’s climate plan can be found here.
Cost: He includes no estimates about the plan’s total cost. The only number mentioned is $25 million for research and development.
"Climate is not a separate issue," Cory Booker said at the September CNN town hall. "It is the lens through which we must do everything."
Price on carbon emissions: Booker told the New York Times that “a federal price on carbon should be one part of a comprehensive response to the threat of climate change.”
Net-zero carbon emissions: By 2045.
Nuclear energy: He’s very much in favor of it — Booker has said people who think it’s possible to get to net-zero carbon emissions without nuclear energy “just aren’t looking at the facts.”
Green New Deal: One of the first steps in Booker’s climate plan is to “work to implement a Green New Deal.”
Fracking: Wants to ban fracking on public lands.
Offshore drilling: Ban it.
Notable positions:
Booker has compared to climate crisis to the urgency of the Civil Rights movement, and said he supports banning fossil-fuel exports from the US.
When asked about his support for geoengineering in September, he waffled: “I have to say, I don’t know if it’s cheating or not,” he said.
Booker’s full climate plan can be found here.
Cost: $3 trillion.
"This is the hardest thing we will have done certainly in my lifetime as a country," Pete Buttigieg said in September. "This is on par with winning World War II, perhaps even more challenging than that."
Price on carbon emissions: Supports a carbon tax. “I know you’re not supposed to use the T word when you’re in politics, but we might as well call this what it is,” Buttigieg said in September.
Net-zero carbon emissions: No later than 2050.
Nuclear energy: In an April interview with the Boston Herald, Buttigieg said,”nuclear has problems, but it has the advantage that it does not create carbon emissions, so if we got to choose our pros and cons, I think that nuclear certainly is preferable to anything like coal.”
Green New Deal: The first step of his climate plan is “implement a bold and achievable Green New Deal.”
Fracking: “I favor a ban on new fracking and a rapid end to existing fracking,” he has said, according to Inside Climate News.
Offshore drilling: End it.
Notable statement:
“You know, if you believe that God is watching as poison is being belched into the air of creation, and people are being harmed by it, countries are at risk in low lying areas, what do you suppose God thinks of that?” Buttigieg said during the September CNN town hall.
Buttigieg’s full climate plan can be found here.
Cost: $1.5-2 trillion.
"We don't need climate scientists to tell us what we see with our own eyes," Julián Castro said in September, pointing to climate-related disasters like Hurricane Dorian and Arctic melting.
Price on carbon emissions: Wants a carbon-pollution fee for the “biggest … industrial scale polluters.” He did not name any examples of “corporate polluters” when asked during the September town hall.
Net-zero carbon emissions: By 2045, with a push to get the rest of the world to net zero by 2050.
Nuclear energy: According to the Washington Post, Castro said he would not support building any new nuclear plants.
Green New Deal: “We’re gonna say no to subsidizing big oil and say yes to passing a Green New Deal,” he tweeted in January.
Fracking: “I support local communities and states that want to ban fracking. I have not called for an immediate ban on fracking,” he said during the CNN town hall. In 2011, when Castro was mayor of San Antonio, Texas, he touted the economic benefits of fracking.
Offshore drilling: End it.
Notable statements:
“The problem is that, like our neighborhoods, pollution is segregated,” Castro’s climate plan states.
In the September town hall, he said: “Oftentimes the first folks to get flooded out are the poorest communities. They’re often communities of color. They’re the ones that can least afford to deal with the climate crisis.”
Castro’s full climate plan can be found here.
Cost: $10 trillion.
"We can't build a green economy that leaves anyone behind," Amy Klobuchar said in September.
Price on carbon emissions: Klobuchar touted her plans to pass a carbon tax during Thursday night’s debate.
Net-zero carbon emissions: By 2050.
Nuclear energy: Does not support building new nuclear plants “unless we can find safe storage.”
Green New Deal: Yes — she’s a co-sponsor.
Fracking: Klobuchar doesn’t support banning fracking because she sees natural gas as “a transitional fuel” that is “better than oil, but it’s not nearly as good as wind and solar.” However, she has vowed to “review every fracking permit there is” during her first 100 days as president.
Offshore drilling: Ban it.
Notable positions:
Klobuchar wants to restore the Clean Power Plan, an Obama-administration policy that set standards for carbon emissions.
She has also said she is “strongly in favor of the Endangered Species Act … and I would do anything to reverse some of the suggestions that the president has made recently to repeal it or to water it down.”
Klobuchar’s full climate plan can be found here.
Cost: $2-3 trillion
"Instead of spending $1.8 trillion a year globally on weapons of destruction, maybe an American president can lead the world instead of spending money to kill each other," Sanders said on Thursday. "Maybe we pool our resources and fight our common enemy, which is climate change."
Price on carbon emissions: Sanders’ climate plan states that he will “make the fossil-fuel industry pay for their pollution” by “massively raising taxes on corporate polluters’ and investors’ fossil-fuel income and wealth.” Sanders has previously argued that a carbon tax “must be a central part of our strategy for dramatically reducing carbon pollution.”
Net-zero carbon emissions: By 2050.
Nuclear energy: Sanders is against nuclear power. His campaign website says: “We must stop building new nuclear power plants, and find a real solution to our existing nuclear waste problem.”
“It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me to add more dangerous waste to this country and the world when we don’t know how to get rid of what we have now,” he said at the CNN town hall.
Green New Deal: Sanders supports a version that would “create up to 20 million good-paying jobs over the period of 15 years.”
Fracking: He has pushed for a fracking ban on public lands.
Offshore drilling: Ban it.
Notable statements:
When asked during the September CNN town hall about whether curbing population growth was a “reasonable” plan to address climate change, Sanders suggested that improving access to birth control and increasing women’s reproductive rights could indeed help.
He also said he would not give federal assistance to Americans seeking to rebuild their homes after natural disasters.
“It is not an issue of relocating people in towns,” he said on Thursday. “The issue now is whether we save the planet for our children and our grandchildren.”
Sanders’ full climate plan can be found here.
Cost: $16 trillion (Sanders’ climate plan is the most expensive and most ambitious of the 10 candidates)
Warren has proposed separate plans for how to ban fossil-fuel leasing on public lands, promote "green manufacturing," involve the military in the fight against climate change, and transition to clean energy.
Price on carbon emissions: Supports a carbon tax.
Net-zero carbon emissions: Wants the US to cut 70% of carbon emissions by 2035 via changes to buildings, transportation, and electricity systems.
Nuclear energy: Wants the US to stop using it by 2035. When asked on Thursday how she plans to get the country to zero emissions by 2050 without relying on nuclear energy, she pointed to Americans’ ability to innovate and insisted the country should to tackle corruption in Washington first.
Green New Deal: Yes. Warren thinks one of the best parts of the proposal is that it both helps the planet and “is about worker justice” and “justice for people whose communities have been destroyed.”
Fracking: Supports a nation-wide fracking ban.
Offshore drilling: “On my first day as president, I will sign an executive order that says no more drilling — a total moratorium on all new fossil fuel leases, including for drilling offshore and on public lands,” Warren said during the CNN town hall.
Notable positions:
Much of Warren’s climate plan echoes the one put forward by Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, who dropped out of the race in August.
She has broken down her plan for carbon-emissions cuts by industry: Warren wants commercial and residential buildings to emit no carbon by 2028, and cars, trucks, and buses to emit zero carbon by 2030.
Warren’s plan to ban fossil-fuel leasing on public lands can be found here.
Her plan for “green manufacturing” can be found here.
Her plan to get the military involved in helping to fight climate change can be found here.
Her plan for transitioning to clean energy can be found here.
Cost: $3 trillion
Investor Tom Steyer spent more time talking about climate change on Thursday than any other Democratic candidate.
Price on carbon emissions: He wants to get rid of “all forms of government giveaways” to fossil-fuel companies, though hasn’t mentioned a carbon tax.
Net-zero carbon emissions: By 2045. (He set a goal to eliminate air pollution from diesel engines and power production by 2030.)
Nuclear energy: Not into it, since it can’t compete with wind and solar energy in terms of cost. “Right now, any nuclear proposal is much too expensive based on cost per kilowatt-hour,” Steyer told the Verge. “In addition, there are questions with nuclear about danger, you know, disasters like Fukushima.”
Green New Deal: Steyer’s climate plan supports the Green New Deal.
Fracking: Has said he would “absolutely” get the US off natural gas.
Offshore drilling: Steyer called for Obama to ban offshore drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans in 2016, before Donald Trump took office.
Notable positions:
Steyer says his “justice-centered” climate plan would allocate $250 billion for a “Civilian Climate Corps” that would create one million jobs.
He also wants to spend $775 billion to improve mass transit, build more EV charging stations, and electrify school buses.
In Thursday’s debate, when Buttigieg suggested China should face sanctions if it continues to use violence against Hong Kong protesters, Steyer said he thinks such a move would doom world climate negotiations. (China is the world’s biggest carbon emitter.)
“If we are going to treat climate as the threat that it is, we are going to have to partner with the Chinese,” he said.
Steyer’s climate plan can be found here.
Cost: $2.3 trillion
"We should obviously be paying to relocate Americans away from places that are hit by climate change," Yang said on Thursday.
Price on carbon emissions: A carbon tax that starts at $40 per ton then ramps up to $100 per ton, “because we need to have polluters internalize the cost of their pollution,” Yang said, adding that the gradual increase would “give them time to adjust.”
Net-zero carbon emissions: In the next 30 years.
Nuclear energy: “Needs to be on the table in a transition to a more renewable economy.”
Green New Deal: Yang said he loves the vision but doesn’t think it’s possible to make the US carbon neutral within a decade.
Fracking: Not mentioned in his climate plan, and he didn’t touch on it at the town hall, either.
Offshore drilling: Ban it.
Notable proposals:
Yang’s plan would allocate $40 billion toward relocating Americans in vulnerable areas. He has said his proposed “freedom dividend” — a monthly allowance of $1,000 for every American — could help climate refugees flee or protect themselves from natural disasters.
Yang also supports geoengineering technologies like space mirrors and cloud seeding. “In a crisis, all solutions have to be on the table. So, if you are attacking on one side, you also should be researching various alternatives on the other,” he said in September.
Yang’s climate plan can be found here.
Cost: $5 trillion
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