TThe presumptive presidential candidates traded barbs about climate change in Thursday’s debate. As with much of the debate, the details were difficult to follow, but the candidates’ records are clear.
At the debate, former President Trump copied his oft-repeated line that he provided clean air and water while president. “I want absolutely pristine clean water and absolutely clean air – and we had it,” he said.
President Biden criticized Trump for withdrawing the US from the Paris Agreement, the 2015 climate agreement between nearly 200 countries, saying the US is critical to any global climate action. “How can we do something that the United States can control?” he said.
The truth about his records, however, is quite clear. Trump spent four years undoing climate rules and pulling the US away from international climate commitments. CNN anchors who asked candidates questions referred to climate change as a “crisis”; Trump has repeatedly refused to accept science. Biden has placed climate at the center of his administration, most significantly with the Reducing Inflation Act, a climate law that will subsidize clean technologies worth hundreds of billions of dollars. His agencies sought to implement new regulations to guide the country towards a cleaner energy future
A central point of contention in the approximately five-minute briefing dedicated to climate change was the nature of the Paris Agreement. Trump claimed it costs the US trillions, while countries like India and China bear no responsibility. Biden’s response came in fits and starts, but he suggested the US needed to be part of the centerpiece of climate diplomacy. The truth is that the Paris Agreement is not binding and that countries make voluntary commitments under it, which means there are no mandatory costs.
Biden also alluded to his administration’s commitment to cutting carbon emissions in half from 2005 levels by 2030. It remains far from a guarantee, but his administration’s positions have made that goal possible. Getting there, however, will require future presidential administrations to continue to implement existing climate laws in good faith — not to mention that those laws remain in effect.
Neither candidate has really explained what is at stake in climate, but all it takes is a little knowledge about climate to make a guess.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
