Having endorsed Hillary Clinton following a hard-fought primary campaign, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) took aim at Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s stance on climate change while emphasizing the importance of a Democratic victory in the November election during a speech Monday night at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. “Donald Trump, well, like most Republications he chooses to reject science. He believes that climate change is a hoax, no need to address it,” Sanders said.
In contrast, “Hillary Clinton understands that a president’s job is to worry about future generations, not the profits of the fossil fuel industry,” he added.
The senator was the final speaker on the last day of the convention, receiving boisterous applause from his supporters in the audience, some of whom made it very clear throughout the evening that they were unhappy with the results of the primary. That fire, which had been burning since Clinton was declared the presumptive nominee early last month, was fanned over the last few days as hackers released thousands of DNC e-mails, many of which show that the party worked actively against the Sanders campaign.
Sanders, noting that the result of the election could have very real impacts on the nation’s efforts to address climate change, stated: “Hillary Clinton is listening to the scientists, who tell us that unless we act boldly to transform our energy system in the very near future there will be more drought, more floods, more acidification of the oceans, more rising sea levels. She understands that we can create hundreds of thousands of jobs transforming our energy system.”
Clinton and Sanders did not see eye to eye on climate during the primary, with the Vermont senator pitching more forceful environmental policies, such as a ban on fracking and ending all fossil fuel extraction on public lands. Sanders also criticized the nearly 200-nation Paris Agreement, which he said did not go far enough to address climate change.
Clinton’s climate plan calls for installation of more than half a billion solar panels throughout the nation by 2020 and an increase in renewables to 33 percent of total national energy generation by 2027. The former secretary of state has also been a vocal supporter of the Paris accord.
Regardless of the differing points of view of the Clinton and Sanders camps, delegates representing each were able to work together during the party platform drafting process to adopt a compromise climate policy. “I’m happy to tell you that at the Democratic platform committee there was a significant coming together between the two campaigns and we produced by far the most progressive platform in the history of the Democratic Party,” Sanders said.
As there was not yet a clear nominee when the platform process began in early June Sanders was able to appoint a portion of the committee. Sanders named five drafting committee members, Clinton named six, and the rest were appointed by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.), then-chair of the Democratic National Committee.
The first drafts of the platform rejected several of the Sanders campaign’s priorities, including a carbon tax, a ban on fracking, the end of fossil fuel leasing on federal lands, and mandating that federal agencies consider the potential climate effect of their actions.
However, the groups ultimately agreed on a “unity” amendment, integrating many of Sanders’ ideals into the platform, save for the fracking ban.
“Democrats believe that carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases should be priced to reflect their negative externalities, and to accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy and help meet our climate goals,” the platform says.
