Where Republican presidential candidates stand: Climate change
ABOUT THE CANDIDATE
Ryan Binkley: Binkley, 56, is the president, CEO and co-founder of Generational Equity Group and a pastor from Texas. He announced his White House bid in April 2023, and he told the Des Moines Register he believed he could carve a lane in the GOP primary to prioritize unity and bipartisanship on financial, immigration and health care policies.
Ron DeSantis: The Florida governor, 45, entered the presidential election in May 2023. DeSantis previously served as a member of the U.S. House, representing Florida’s 6th congressional district. The Florida governor’s campaign has been marked by culture war battles and conflicts with Trump, once one of his allies.
Nikki Haley: Haley, 51, served as South Carolina governor from 2011 to 2017, stepping down in 2017 to take the role of ambassador to the United Nations in the Trump administration. She announced her presidential bid in February 2023, citing her record of economic growth as governor and deep knowledge of world affairs.
Donald Trump: There has never been a presidential candidate like the former President. Trump, 77, who announced his reelection campaign in November 2022, could become the first ex-president to win back the White House since Grover Cleveland. He is the first major candidate to face the prospect of four criminal trials during an election year.
ON CLIMATE CHANGE
Binkley has said America’s climate policies should focus on developing new technologies and other approaches to produce “affordable and dependable green energy,” according to his website. He has called for the U.S. to focus on technological developments as the country faces the consequences of climate change, and he has accused leaders of focusing on approaches that are expensive and do not deliver promised solutions.
DeSantis has previously downplayed the effects of climate change, instead supporting oil and gas exploration and development. He has called for refilling the strategic petroleum reserve and limiting future use to emergencies, boosting the nuclear energy industry and eliminating Biden’s subsidies for electric vehicles. If elected, he would also withdraw the country from the Paris climate agreement, Global Methane Pledge and all “Net Zero” commitments, according to his website.
Though Haley believes in human-caused climate change, the main focus of her environmental agenda on the campaign trail has been U.S. energy independence. She has pledged to cut what she calls “Biden’s wasteful green energy subsidies and regulations,” boost oil production in the U.S. and expedite permitting for interstate pipelines. However, she has signaled support for carbon capture and nuclear energy alternatives to fossil fuels.
Trump opposes most climate change legislation, a position that hasn’t changed since his term in the White House. During his presidency, he withdrew the United States from the Paris Agreement, a global climate initiative that Biden rejoined once he took office. As president, Trump rolled back swaths of the nation’s environmental regulations, and he has regularly minimized the effects of climate change around the world.