If CNN’s prime time programming is any guide, 2020 could be climate change’s year. Not in a doom-and-gloom, massive storm systems, and out-of-control wildfires way — though, sigh, that could happen too — but as a prominent issue in electoral politics. In early September, the cable news network devoted seven full hours to a series of town halls in which CNN anchors, climate scientists, and concerned citizens grilled 10 of the candidates vying for the Democratic nomination for president on their plans for tackling the climate crisis.
It’s a reflection of changing priorities. A poll published in early -July from the Washington Post and ABC News found that climate change came in second behind health care when voters who lean Democrat were asked what the most important issue would be in the 2020 general election. The same poll found that voters of all persuasions disapproved of how President Donald Trump has handled climate change more than any other issue — immigration, foreign policy, even “issues of special concern to women.”
Discussions of climate policy have evolved in this election cycle. Democratic primary candidates initially would drop buzzwords like “Green New Deal” or “Paris accord” to give the sense that they were climate- conscious. But a vocal and seemingly omnipresent activist community has forced serious primary contenders to bone up on issues related to warming, from their stances on whether the country should continue fracking for natural gas, whether nuclear energy makes sense as part of a future energy mix, and whether there should be a price on carbon. With so many candidates and so many concerns, it’s easy to lose track of who stands for what. Which candidate has a plan to address the climate crisis that tracks most closely to what a voter (you, dear reader) might want?
That’s where we at Grist come in. We’ve assembled this handy, scannable candidate sorter so you can peruse the many many many candidates vying for your vote — and find your political soulmate.
Happy sorting!
To see more of Grist’s 2020 election coverage, click here.
Michael Bennet
Senator, Colorado
Pro
- Carbon capture
- Fracking
- Nuclear
Anti
- Fossil fuel subsidies
- Green New Deal
¯\_(?)_/¯
- Carbon tax
- Fossil fuel exports
- Geoengineering
Bennet is a Democratic senator from Colorado who sees his record of working across the aisle as a key to winning in 2020. He won a razor-thin Senate election in 2010, despite Republicans picking up seats elsewhere in the purple state. He’s most well known for joining the bipartisan “Gang of Eight” to push for immigration reform in the Senate.
Bennet’s environmental record is mixed. He’s supported major climate bills, and the League of Conservation Voters has been his top campaign contributor throughout his Senate career. But he’s also cast a handful of votes likely to alarm activists, according to the same League of Conservation Voters, such as one in support of the Keystone XL pipeline in 2013. His proposals to address climate change include cutting energy waste in half by 2040, holding a Climate Summit in the first 100 days of his administration, conserving one-third of federal lands, and awarding competitive grants to encourage green technology innovation.
His climate plan, by the numbers:
- Net-zero emissions by 2050
- Conserve 30 percent of federal lands by 2030
- $1.5 trillion in investments in technology, research, and innovation facilitated by a federal “Climate Bank”
Read Bennett’s full plan here.
Joe Biden
Former vice president
Pro
- Carbon capture
- Carbon tax
- Green New Deal
Anti
- Fossil fuel exports
- Fossil fuel subsidies
¯\_(?)_/¯
- Fracking
- Geoengineering
- Nuclear
Cory Booker
Senator, New Jersey
Pro
- Carbon tax
- Green New Deal
- Nuclear
Anti
- Fossil fuel exports
- Fossil fuel subsidies
- Fracking
¯\_(?)_/¯
- Carbon capture
- Geoengineering
Steve Bullock
Governor of Montana
Pro
- Carbon capture
- Carbon tax
- Fossil fuel exports
Anti
- Green New Deal
- Nuclear
¯\_(?)_/¯
- Fossil fuel subsidies
- Fracking
- Geoengineering
Pete Buttigieg
Mayor of South Bend, Indiana
Pro
- Carbon capture
- Carbon tax
- Green New Deal
Anti
- Fossil fuel subsidies
- Fracking
¯\_(?)_/¯
- Fossil fuel exports
- Geoengineering
- Nuclear
Julián Castro
Former secretary of Housing and Urban Development and mayor of San Antonio, Texas
Pro
- Carbon tax
- Green New Deal
Anti
- Fossil fuel subsidies
- Nuclear
¯\_(?)_/¯
- Carbon capture
- Fossil fuel exports
- Fracking
- Geoengineering
Bill de Blasio
Mayor of New York City
Pro
- Carbon tax
- Green New Deal
Anti
- Fossil fuel subsidies
- Fracking
- Nuclear
¯\_(?)_/¯
- Carbon capture
- Fossil fuel exports
- Geoengineering
John Delaney
Former representative, Maryland
Pro
- Carbon capture
- Carbon tax
- Fossil fuel exports
- Fracking
- Nuclear
Anti
- Fossil fuel subsidies
- Green New Deal
¯\_(?)_/¯
- Geoengineering
Tulsi Gabbard
Representative, Hawaii
Pro
- Carbon capture
- Green New Deal
Anti
- Carbon tax
- Fossil fuel exports
- Fossil fuel subsidies
- Fracking
- Nuclear
¯\_(?)_/¯
- Geoengineering
Kamala Harris
Senator, California
Pro
- Carbon tax
- Green New Deal
Anti
- Fossil fuel subsidies
- Fracking
¯\_(?)_/¯
- Carbon capture
- Fossil fuel exports
- Geoengineering
- Nuclear
Amy Klobuchar
Senator, Minnesota
Pro
- Carbon capture
- Carbon tax
- Fracking
- Green New Deal
- Nuclear
Anti
- Fossil fuel subsidies
¯\_(?)_/¯
- Fossil fuel exports
- Geoengineering
Wayne Messam
Mayor of Miramar, Florida
Pro
- N/A
Anti
- Fossil fuel subsidies
- Fracking
- Green New Deal
- Nuclear
¯\_(?)_/¯
- Carbon capture
- Carbon tax
- Fossil fuel exports
- Geoengineering
Beto O’Rourke
Former representative, Texas
Pro
- Green New Deal
Anti
- Carbon tax
- Fossil fuel subsidies
¯\_(?)_/¯
- Carbon capture
- Fossil fuel exports
- Fracking
- Nuclear
- Geoengineering
Tim Ryan
Representative, Ohio
Pro
- Fossil fuel exports
- Fracking
- Nuclear
Anti
- Fossil fuel subsidies
- Green New Deal
¯\_(?)_/¯
- Carbon capture
- Carbon tax
- Geoengineering
Bernie Sanders
Senator, Vermont
Pro
- Green New Deal
Anti
- Carbon capture
- Fossil fuel exports
- Fossil fuel subsidies
- Fracking
- Geoengineering
- Nuclear
¯\_(?)_/¯
- Carbon tax
Mark Sanford
Former representative and governor of South Carolina.
Pro
- N/A
Anti
- N/A
¯\_(?)_/¯
- Carbon capture
- Carbon tax
- Fossil fuel exports
- Fossil fuel subsidies
- Fracking
- Green New Deal
- Geoengineering
- Nuclear
Joe Sestak
Former representative, Pennsylvania
Pro
- Carbon tax
Anti
- Fossil fuel exports
- Fossil fuel subsidies
- Fracking
- Green New Deal
- Nuclear
¯\_(?)_/¯
- Carbon capture
- Geoengineering
Tom Steyer
Founder, NextGen Climate
Pro
- Carbon tax
- Green New Deal
Anti
- Fossil fuel subsidies
¯\_(?)_/¯
- Carbon capture
- Fossil fuel exports
- Fracking
- Geoengineering
- Nuclear
Donald Trump
President of the United States
Pro
- Fossil fuel exports
- Fossil fuel subsidies
- Fracking
- Nuclear
Anti
- Carbon capture
- Carbon tax
- Green New Deal
¯\_(?)_/¯
- Geoengineering
Joe Walsh
Former representative from Illinois
Pro
- N/A
Anti
- N/A
¯\_(?)_/¯
- Carbon capture
- Carbon tax
- Fossil fuel exports
- Fossil fuel subsidies
- Fracking
- Geoengineering
- Green New Deal
- Nuclear
Elizabeth Warren
Senator, Massachusetts
Pro
- Carbon tax
- Green New Deal
Anti
- Fossil fuel exports
- Fossil fuel subsidies
- Fracking
- Nuclear
¯\_(?)_/¯
- Carbon capture
- Geoengineering
Bill Weld
Former governor of Massachusetts
Pro
- Carbon capture
- Nuclear
Anti
- Carbon tax
¯\_(?)_/¯
- Fossil fuel exports
- Fossil fuel subsidies
- Fracking
- Geoengineering
- Green New Deal
Marianne Williamson
Author and spiritual guru
Pro
- Carbon tax
- Green New Deal
Anti
- Fossil fuel exports
- Fossil fuel subsidies
- Fracking
- Nuclear
¯\_(?)_/¯
- Carbon capture
- Geoengineering
Andrew Yang
Founder, Venture for America
Pro
- Carbon capture
- Carbon tax
- Fossil fuel exports
- Geoengineering
- Green New Deal
- Nuclear
Anti
- Fossil fuel subsidies
¯\_(?)_/¯
- Fracking
CREDITS:
Executive Editor
Nikhil Swaminathan
Senior Editors
Teresa Chin, Matt Craft, Darby Minow Smith
Associate Editor
Kate Yoder
Research
Miyo McGinn
Writers
L.V. Anderson, Eve Andrews, Molly Enking, Nathanael Johnson, Jesse Nichols, Daniel Penner, Rachel Ramirez, Paola Rosa-Aquino, Naveena Sadasivam, Zoya Teirstein
This story was originally published by Grist with the headline My Climate Candidate on Sep 12, 2019.