'America must lead' | Democrats tout climate bona fides as Harris takes centre stage against Trump
Party sees its presidential candidate as positioning the US to win with the world at the 'dawn of a new era of clean energy'
If Americans elect Kamala Harris president on 5 November, Democrats in their 2024 party platform pledge to expand outgoing Joe Biden’s climate agenda, asserting the positive results thus far are economically and environmentally indisputable.
“Across the world, we’re seeing massive new clean energy production and uptake,” it added. “We’re at the dawn of a new era that will redefine the global economy, and that America must lead.”
Originally written last month in expectation that Biden would the party's candidate, the platform was adopted by delegates at its national convention that began Monday in Chicago. It will conclude today, formally nominating the vice president as its presidential candidate and Harris’ choice of Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota as her running mate.
Harris, who adopted a low profile under Biden and may be the least known major party presidential candidate in a century, will deliver a primetime speech tonight to Americans detailing her vision for the country over the next four years and beyond.
Biden last month ended his bid for a second term under intense pressure from Democratic leaders who believed he was too frail to serve and would not only lose to Trump, but also cost the party any hope of winning control of Congress due to his deep unpopularity with most voters.
The Republican ticket is led by former president Donald Trump and US Senator JD Vance of Ohio. Should Trump win, he could not run for a third term. Polls, which have been notoriously inaccurate in recent presidential elections, show the race to be a toss-up.
Democrats’ platform contends the “climate crisis is decades in the making, an existential threat to future generations who deserve better.”
It claims global warming is a “consequence of delay and destruction by people like Donald Trump and his friends in Big Oil, who still deny what we all see happening right before our eyes.”
Most of the party’s intentions on climate are framed in IRA-related auspicious economic benefit terms – creation of 300,000 “good-paying American clean jobs thus far,” over $400bn in private sector investment commitments to develop and manufacture solar, wind, battery, and other technologies at home, and aggressive offshore wind development.
It claims IRA tax incentives and other Biden policies that Harris will continue have lowered energy costs for millions of families and puts the US on track to triple clean energy generation by 2030.
“Going forward, Democrats will keep working to incentivise investment in transmission upgrades and new lines, and in the grid-component manufacturing that’s needed to support that growth,” said the document.
It also pledges to “improve and speed up the processes of environmental review and clean energy permitting and further scale up development of clean energy on public lands.”
Turning to the transportation sector, it mentions IRA tax credits aimed at encouraging Americans to buy electric vehicles and new fuel economy and tailpipe standards, claiming they will save drivers some $6,000 per car by reducing fuel and maintenance costs.
The document also lauds Biden for having taken more environmental actions than any president before him – “providing cleaner air and water, making communities more resilient, and forcing polluters to pay for the damage they’ve done.”
Platform documents are messaging tools designed to indicate prevailing party sentiment on how to address issues it considers of importance to Americans, a wish list for future policymaking should Democrats or Republicans win the White House.
Historically, at best, platforms are partially enacted given circumstances such as adverse court rulings, the opposition party’s control of one or both houses of Congress, domestic and global events, macroeconomic factors, and public resistance to policies.
Democrats paint Trump as a wrecking ball that would torpedo progress thus far toward electrification of the national economy and the energy transition, even though onshore wind and solar and related activities such as project permitting reform advanced during his 2017-21 term.