Current:Home > InvestSignalHub Quantitative Think Tank Center:Bernie Sanders on Climate Change: Where the Candidate Stands -Wealth Evolution Experts
SignalHub Quantitative Think Tank Center:Bernie Sanders on Climate Change: Where the Candidate Stands
Rekubit Exchange View
Date:2025-04-06 23:09:47
“There is SignalHub Quantitative Think Tank Centerno ‘middle ground’ when it comes to climate policy.”
—Bernie Sanders, May 2019
Been There
Tropical Storm Irene, which in 2011 caused the deaths of six people in Vermont, forced thousands from their homes, and washed away hundreds of bridges and miles of roads, was a wake-up call for a state where Sen. Bernie Sanders is a thoroughly established favorite son. “No one thought a northern state like Vermont would be hit by such a strong tropical storm,” Sanders said.
Done That
Sanders often says he introduced “the most comprehensive climate change legislation in the history of the United States Senate.” It was a carbon tax-and-dividend bill and accompanying clean energy bill co-sponsored with then-Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) in 2013. The bills were dead on arrival, but they marked an important shift in the Democratic drive for climate action—a pivot away from the cap-and-trade approach that had foundered, and toward carbon taxation.
Sanders’ biggest legislative climate accomplishment was a national energy efficiency grant program he introduced his first year in the Senate. It passed in 2007. He successfully pushed for $3.2 billion for the program to be included in the Obama administration’s 2009 economic recovery package. The grants were the largest investment in energy efficiency and renewable energy at the community level in U.S. history.
Getting Specific
- The sweeping energy and social transformation known as the Green New Deal is central to the Sanders campaign, and he has left more fingerprints on it than any of the other senators running for president who co-sponsored it. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who propelled it into the center ring in Washington, got her electoral start working for Sanders in his 2016 campaign. And with its emphasis on social justice, working class jobs, health care and spending without regard to revenue sources, it echoes the ideas of Sanders’ long-time economic adviser, Stephanie Kelton.
- On Aug. 22, Sanders announced the most ambitious climate plan yet among the candidates. It promises to declare climate change a national emergency and put the Green New Deal into action by investing $16.3 trillion in a 10-year mobilization “that factors climate change into virtually every area of policy.” That dollar figure is far higher than what other candidates are proposing.
- His mobilization includes creating 20 million new jobs in clean energy, energy efficiency and technology; transforming the agriculture system for more sustainable farming and breaking up big agribusinesses; and getting to 100 percent renewable energy by 2030 and complete decarbonization by 2050. In doing so, he focuses heavily on environmental justice and equity.
- To pay for it, Sanders says he would eliminate fossil fuel subsidies, cut back military spending related to oil, increase penalties for power plant emissions, and “massively” raise taxes on fossil fuel income and wealth, among other steps. His plan doesn’t specifically mention a carbon tax, though Sanders has long advocated an aggressive carbon tax, and one was included in the Democratic Party platform in 2016 at his campaign’s behest. He also relies on expected new tax income from the jobs created and a drop in social safety net costs if more people are working and mentions “making the wealthy and large corporations pay their fair share.”
- Sanders’ consistent climate change message can be summed up in a few words: it’s real, it’s here, we caused it, and we need to shift the whole economy away from fossil fuels. So he supports nationwide bans on fracking, on new fossil fuel infrastructure, and on fossil fuel leases on public lands. He supports high speed rail, electric vehicles and public transit. He has called for phasing out nuclear energy, and he supports spending money to adapt to climate change, such as defenses against wildfires, floods, drought and hurricanes.
- Having built his last campaign on small individual donations, Sanders was the first presidential candidate to sign the No Fossil Fuel Funding pledge launched by climate and justice groups in 2016.
Our Take
Sanders, with his open defense of democratic socialism, defines the leftist boundary of presidential politics while also staking out a populist territory that resonated well in 2016. His explicit aim is to “keep oil, gas and coal in the ground.” Although his signature campaign proposals (Medicare-for-All, raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour) aren’t about climate, the Green New Deal allows Sanders to use climate action as a vehicle for his economic and social justice aims. His proposal for a federal jobs guarantee would be tied to the need for workers to build infrastructure to aid in a clean energy transition as well as to help communities with restoration and resilience. Whether or not he emerges as the nominee, his base of voters, and his ideas, will deeply influence the 2020 campaign.
Read Bernie Sanders’ climate platform.
Read more candidate profiles.
veryGood! (2)
Related
- Meet first time Grammy nominee Charley Crockett
- Youth with autism are more likely to be arrested. A Nevada judge wants to remedy that
- 'Fourteen Days' is a time capsule of people's efforts to connect during the pandemic
- Why Taylor Swift Has Never Headlined the Super Bowl Halftime Show
- Justice Department, Louisville reach deal after probe prompted by Breonna Taylor killing
- Virginia’s Youngkin aims to bolster mental health care, part of national focus after the pandemic
- How Justin Bieber Supported Usher During Super Bowl Halftime Show
- Proof Dwayne The Rock Johnson's Kids Are Already Following in His Footsteps
- Gen. Mark Milley's security detail and security clearance revoked, Pentagon says
- President Biden's personal attorney Bob Bauer says Hur report was shoddy work product
Ranking
- IRS recovers $4.7 billion in back taxes and braces for cuts with Trump and GOP in power
- Wreck of ship that sank in 1940 found in Lake Superior
- Jen Pawol on verge of becoming first MLB female umpire, gets full-time spring training assignment
- Times Square shooting: 15-year-old teen arrested after woman shot, police chase
- Current, future North Carolina governor’s challenge of power
- Waymo driverless car set ablaze in San Francisco: 'Putting out some rage'
- Usher's Super Bowl halftime show brought skates, abs, famous friends and a Vegas vibe
- Kansas City Chiefs Coach Andy Reid Reacts to Travis Kelce’s Heated Sideline Moment at Super Bowl 2024
Recommendation
Which apps offer encrypted messaging? How to switch and what to know after feds’ warning
Shaq, Ye and Elon stroll by Taylor Swift's Super Bowl suite. Who gets in?
Molly Ringwald breaks free from 'mom purgatory' in 'Feud: Capote vs. The Swans'
Kansas City Chiefs Coach Andy Reid Reacts to Travis Kelce’s Heated Sideline Moment at Super Bowl 2024
Pressure on a veteran and senator shows what’s next for those who oppose Trump
Kyle Shanahan relives his Super Bowl nightmare as 49ers collapse yet again
Nigerian bank CEO, his wife and son, among those killed in California helicopter crash
Stock market today: Asian markets mixed, with most closed for holidays, after S&P 500 tops 5,000