The climate stakes of the election, in 15 critical areas

EarthBeat Weekly
Your weekly newsletter about faith and climate change

October 25, 2024

Election Day is 11 days away.

Climate change and the environment have gotten little attention from the presidential candidates, and voters have regularly ranked the issues low among their priorities.

Still, the outcome will nonetheless have serious ramifications for how the country — the world's largest producer and user of both oil and gas, and the largest historical source of heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions — will address climate change the rest of the decade.

Scientists, including the latest U.N. emissions gap report (see below), have stated nations must make significant progress in the next five-plus years, by cutting global emissions nearly in half by 2030, in order to keep the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) within reach.

What raises the stakes for the U.S. presidential election is that the two major candidates, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, are near-polar opposites on climate and environmental issues.

Grist, a fellow nonprofit newsroom and one dedicated to covering climate solutions and uncovering environmental injustices, has spotlighted those differences within an expansive breakdown of how a Harris presidency and Trump second term would impact climate and environmental policy in 15 key categories. Through a republishing agreement, we've posted the Grist analysis here at EarthBeat.

Here's a sample:

While the next president will not directly decide how the states supply power to their new and varied customers, he or she will oversee the massive system of incentives, subsidies and loans by which the federal government influences how much utilities meet electricity demand by burning fossil fuels — the crucial question for the climate.

Trump's answer to that question can perhaps be summed up in the three-word catchphrase he's deployed on the campaign trail: "Drill, baby, drill." He is an avowed friend of the fossil fuel industry, from whom he reportedly demanded $1 billion in campaign funds at a fundraising dinner last spring, promising in exchange to gut environmental regulations.

Vice President Harris is not exactly running on a platform of decarbonization, either. In an effort to win swing votes in the shale-boom heartland of Pennsylvania, she has reversed course on her past opposition to fracking, and she has proudly touted the record levels of oil and gas production seen under the current administration. … Although Harris says her administration would not be a continuation of Biden's, it's reasonable to expect continuity with Biden's overall approach of leaning more heavily on incentives for low-emissions energy than restrictions on fossil fuels to further a climate agenda.

Read more: The climate stakes of the Harris-Trump election

Catholics who work on climate and the environment also see high stakes in the choice of the next president.

"Both candidates have histories, certainly, on climate and environmental issues,"  Catholic Climate Covenant executive director and founder Dan Misleh told Kimberly Heatherington for OSV. "Those histories are very, very different. President Trump pulled out of the Paris Agreement, and the Biden-Harris administration got back in."

Anna Johnson, North American senior programs manager for the Laudato Si' Movement, pointed to Pope Francis' warning last year in Laudate Deum, his apostolic exhortation "on the climate crisis," that "The world in which we live is collapsing, and may be nearing the breaking point."

"There will definitely be environmental work done with (these candidates)," Johnson told Heatherington. "I think it is urgently important that each Catholic take a deep look at each candidate's platform, and really discern what that level of work will look like, and how they see a viable future for us, and our children, and grandchildren living on this planet."

Read more: Critical climate issues at play for Catholics voting in 2024 presidential election
 

What else is new on EarthBeat:

What's happening in other climate news:

How climate-minded voters could impact the 2024 election —Tracy Wholf for CBS News

U.N. says only a 'quantum leap' can keep global climate goals within reach —Chico Harlan for the Washington Post

Nevada lithium mine wins final approval despite potential harm to endangered wildflower —Scott Sonner for the Associated Press

EPA imposes stricter standards to protect children from exposure to lead paint —Matthew Daly for the Associated Press

Biden administration puts $428M into manufacturing projects in coal communities —Rachel Frazin for The Hill

US power grid added battery equivalent of 20 nuclear reactors in past four years —Oliver Milman for the Guardian

Much of the Emerald Isle is an ecological desert. He's trying to change that. —Cara Buckley for The New York Times

Final Beat:

With the election approaching, catch up on all of NCR's coverage by checking the Election 2024 feature series.

Thanks for reading EarthBeat. 

Brian Roewe
Environment Correspondent
National Catholic Reporter
broewe@ncronline.org
Instagram: @broewe_ncr

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