CBS News - Brian Mastroianni
 |
| Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton at the third presidential debate, Oct. 19, 2016, in Las Vegas. PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images |
The third and
final presidential debate
between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton Wednesday night in Las Vegas
covered a wide range of issues from abortion to foreign policy to the
national debt, but there was one glaring omission —
climate change.
Six months after world leaders
signed the Paris Agreement,
a sweeping accord designed to combat global warming, climate change was
only brought up tangentially, in one brief moment, on the debate stage.
It was mentioned early on as “a real issue” by Clinton in her answer to
an unrelated question. Other than that, moderator
Chris Wallace,
of Fox News, did not pose any questions about climate policy and
neither of the candidates brought up specific proposals about how they
would handle the challenges it presents — despite this being a year of
record-breaking temperatures,
drought, and
destructive storms.
On
social media, some observers decried the absence of climate change
discussion at any of this year’s debates. Paul Krugman of the New York
Times called the oversight “really disgraceful.”
Twitter Comments (IMAGE)
Oddly enough, the closest question to touch on the issue of
climate change came from the red sweater-wearing, meme-worthy audience member
Ken Bone
at the second presidential debate. An undecided voter, Bone asked the
candidates, “What steps will your energy policy take to meet our energy
needs while at the same time remaining environmentally friendly and
minimizing job layoffs?”
In response, Trump said: “I will bring
our energy companies back ... They’ll pay off our national debt. They’ll
pay off our tremendous budget deficits, which are tremendous. But we
are putting our energy companies out of business. We have to bring back
our workers.”
Clinton specifically used the term “climate change” in her answer:
“So I have a comprehensive energy policy, but it really does include
fighting climate change, because I think that is a serious problem,” she
said. “And I support moving toward more clean, renewable energy as
quickly as we can, because I think we can be the 21st century clean
energy superpower and create millions of new jobs and businesses.”
Beyond that exchange,
climate change has largely been left out of discussion.
So,
with less than three weeks to go until Election Day, where do the two
candidates stand on climate change? Here’s an overview:
Donald Trump
Back in a January interview with Fox News, before he clinched the Republican nomination,
Trump said,
“Climate change is just a very, very expensive form of tax. A lot of
people are making a lot of money. I know much about climate change.”
He
added, “I often joke that this is done for the benefit of China —
obviously I joke — but this is done for the benefit of China.”
On
his official campaign website, Trump does not have a section focused on
climate change listed under “Positions.” There is, however, a section
on the candidate’s energy policy.
The Trump campaign website says
the presidential hopeful will “make America energy independent, create
millions of new jobs, and protect clean air and clean water.”
It
says he “will conserve our natural habitats, reserves and resources,”
and “will unleash an energy revolution that will bring vast new wealth
to our country.”
Trump’s team writes that his administration would
“rescind all job-destroying Obama executive actions,” including that
“Mr. Trump will reduce and eliminate all barriers to responsible energy
production, creating at least a half million jobs a year, $30 billion in
higher wages and
cheaper energy.”
The word climate change appears nowhere on the page.
Trump
has previously suggested he considers global warming a hoax “created by
and for the Chinese,” as he put it in an oft-referenced 2012 tweet.
Twitter Comment (IMAGE)
In March he also told The Washington Post that he is “not a big believer in man-made climate change.”
But despite his public skepticism, Trump
applied for a permit
to build a seawall next to his golf course and hotel in County Clare,
Ireland, to prevent erosion, according to a Politico report from earlier
this year. In his application, he included an environmental impact
statement that mentions “global warming and its effects.”
Trump’s stance on climate change would make him unique among world leaders if elected.
A study from The Sierra Club
that compiled statements from leaders of 195 countries found that Trump
would be the only head of state to declare climate change a hoax.
Hillary Clinton
“I
believe in science. I believe that climate change is real and that we
can save our planet while creating millions of good-paying clean energy
jobs,”
Clinton said during her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in July.
On
her official campaign website, Clinton has a section devoted to climate
change under “Issues.” On the page, the campaign writes, “Climate
change is an urgent threat and a defining challenge of our time. It
threatens our economy, our national security, and our children’s health
and futures.”
The page also states that the former secretary of
state will “deliver on the pledge President Obama made at the Paris
climate conference” and will not rely on “climate deniers in Congress to
pass new legislation.” Her campaign says a Clinton administration would
aim to “reduce
greenhouse gas emissions
by up to 30 percent in 2025 relative to 2005 levels and put the country
on a path to cut emissions more than 80 percent by 2050.”
Clinton
would likely have a lot of high-level help in fulfilling Mr. Obama’s
climate change initiatives, given that one of the key actors on climate
in his administration was her own campaign chairman, John Podesta.
Among
the policies highlighted on the site, Clinton announces that she will
launch a $60 billion “Clean Energy Challenge” that would partner with
rural communities, states, and cities to cut carbon pollution “and
expand clean energy, including for low-income families.”
Twitter Comment (IMAGE)
Clinton supports cutting tax subsidies on oil and gas companies.
The
campaign also says she would create an Environmental and Climate
Justice Task Force to focus on the “health, economic, and environmental
impacts of pollution and climate change in
vulnerable communities.”
Links
