By adopting its 2016 platform for 2020, Republicans risk replacing early young GOP voters and leaving the party for four years without climate goals or solutions, according to critics on both sides of the aisle.
The GOP claims in its platform – unchanged from 2016, even until the lengthy criticism of the Obama administration’s regulatory actions – that market forces and innovation will solve climate change.
“We believe that environmental issues are best addressed through incentives for human ingenuity and the development of new technologies, not through top-down, command-and-control regulations that suppress economic growth and cost thousands of jobs,” he said. says the platform.
The platform spends even more text bashing the predecessor of the Trump administration.
“The same administration now demands that the Department of Defense, working with closed budgets expand in a time of conflict, use its scarce resources to generate 25 percent of its electricity from sustainable products by 2025,” the 2020 platform read. “Climate change is by far the most pressing national security issue of this nation. This is the triumph of extremism over common sense, and Congress must stop it.”
But with no policy proposals for tackling climate change, critics on both sides of the aisle say the party could leave rudder on an issue of growing importance among voters compared to four years ago.
The GOP has defended its platform as an appropriate consideration of the environment and the economy.
Republican National Committee spokeswoman Mandi Merrit claimed that President Trump
Donald John TrumpGeorge Conway withdrew from Lincoln Project Kellyanne Conway to leave the White House at the end of the month Goodell from NFL to Kaepernick to protest: ‘I wish we had heard earlier’ MORE has “balanced environmental protection with economic growth, prioritizing American innovation.”
“Joe Biden
Joe BidenGeorge Conway withdrawn from Lincoln Project Biden: ‘No new taxes’ for anyone making below 0K. Biden dismisses Trump’s attacks on his mental fitness: ‘Watch me’ MOREThe energy agenda would drive up gas prices, destroy more than 10 million jobs and lead to richer and more globally influential opponents such as Iran, Venezuela and Russia, “Merrit said in an email.
The Trump administration has made some investments in renewable energy and taken steps to implement carbon capture technology, but has also dismantled many environmental protections, such as licensing requirements for environmental versions of construction projects and reimbursing efforts to reduce emissions in various sectors.
Some Republicans argue that the party should start offering comprehensive solutions to a problem that has only diminished in the past four years, unless they want Democrats to control the problem.
‘If Republicans want to prevent a Green New Deal, it’s the best way to combat cogent strategies for climate change and the use of technology and markets to solve these problems. If they do not, they will send part of the debate to Democrats, ‘said Republican strategist Doug Heye.
Since the last GOP convention, Earth has recorded its two hottest years on record, with 2020 projected to reach a new height. This month, the U.S. saw its hottest temperature in 107 years, with the Death Valley of California at 130 degrees. And the U.S. has been hit by other types of extreme weather in recent years, such as severe flooding and wildfires.
During the same period, some polls showed shifts in attitudes toward climate change, while others highlighted marked opinions. An April Yale University study found that 66 percent of respondents said climate change is at least somewhat important, up from 62 percent five years earlier.
Meanwhile, a 2019 Gallup poll found that 65 percent of respondents said they were both very and fairly concerned about climate change and global warming, up just 1 percentage point from 2016.
On its website, the site’s energy and environment of the Trump campaign focuses on the extensive drilling of oil and gas, the regulation and withdrawal of the Paris climate agreement. In contrast, the Biden campaign has targets such as non-zero emissions by 2050, carbon-free electricity by 2035, and investment in electric cars and new construction of buildings.
Asked by The Hill about Trump’s goals in combating climate change, his campaign called for the president’s support for participating in the Global Trillion Trees initiative, which seeks to “grow, restore and maintain” that many trees worldwide, according to the World Economic Forum.
The campaign also highlighted the work of the administration on cleaning up hazardous waste sites and re-authorizing a program aimed at naval storms.
Tree planting is also part of a climate plan previously issued by House Republicans that includes incentivizing and researching carbon capture technology, which seeks to capture emissions and conserve activities such as fossil fuel production.
While planting trees can help in the fight against climate change, scientists strongly agree that it is not enough to solve the problem and that it should be accompanied by steps such as reducing and putting a price on emissions.
The GOP’s reluctance to talk about climate change in a proactive way carries election risks, Heye said.
“I think it’s becoming an increasing problem, especially when you start talking about younger voters who are no longer so young and the number of younger voters coming online this year … for which climate is a very real issue. her is, “said the Republican strategist.
“It does not mean that they should be where the Democrats are. The GOP will not become a Green New Deal party and I do not think it should be, “he added.” But you can talk about recognizing what these problems are and what your solutions are, and if we argue with Democrats that our solutions are better are if their solutions, then that’s a much better place to be than Democrats talk about how they want to solve a problem and we do not really solve the problem.
Meanwhile, Trump’s opponents are wary of the GOP’s inactivity.
“We need several elected leaders. We have no time to spare, “said Pete Maysmith, former vice president of campaigns for the League of Conservation Voters.” That’s the other thing that’s embarrassing is that they have not renewed their climate platform in the last four years. Science is persistent evolved so that we have an even clearer sense of the urgency of the time to get this right. “
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