Climate Change: Comparing the Candidates

The remaining Presidential hopefuls talk of transforming the economy to save the environment. But who would actually get the job done?

by John Carey

Jason Grumet has a simple criterion for judging how to pick the best Presidential candidate. Grumet is the director of the National Commission on Energy Policy, a bipartisan group that has developed policies to tackle the twin issues of global warming and energy dependence. He wants the next Administration to take hard, major steps, such as imposing mandatory curbs on greenhouse gas emissions, boosting the efficiency of energy use, and offering incentives for renewable sources of energy.

The difficulty is that all three remaining candidates—Senators Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), Barack Obama (D-Ill.), and John McCain (R-Ariz.)—have come out in support of strong action on climate change, energy policy, and transforming the economy to make it far more energy efficient and less polluting. "All three candidates get it," Grumet says.

Seemingly on the Same Page

Indeed, both Clinton and Obama have made climate, energy, and green investments top priorities in their campaigns. Clinton vows to focus on global warming and energy independence in her first months in office, and to create a White House Energy Council. Obama kicked off his campaign for the critical Apr. 22 Pennsylvania Democratic primary by visiting a wind turbine plant north of Philadelphia in early March, and repeating his pledge to spend $150 billion over 10 years to create a vast clean energy industry.

"Both Clinton and Obama have terrific plans on these issues," says Joseph Romm, former top Energy Dept. efficiency and renewable energy official, and a supporter of strong action. And while McCain ranks far lower on the League of Conservation Voters scorecard than either Democrat, he has broken from the Bush Administration and most of his fellow Republicans by backing mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions.

With fellow Senator Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), McCain introduced a bill five years ago that required modest emissions limits, and laid the groundwork for more ambitious bills now before Congress. "As President, the nation's security will be my top priority," McCain explained in a response to questions from the League of Conservation Voters. "The environmental and economic dangers posed by global warming, and the related issue of America's reliance on foreign oil, constitute a serious threat to national and global security."

There "are not enormous differences" between the candidates, says Todd Stern, partner at the law firm WilmerHale and adviser to the Clinton campaign.

A Massive Shift

The biggest difference is between the trio of candidates and the Bush Administration. If any of the candidates follow through on the campaign pledges, the American economy will be transformed. Capping carbon emissions will make it more expensive to burn coal, drive cars, make plastic, and to do countless other things. There's a fierce debate over whether this would hurt or help. Opponents cite crippling costs and millions of jobs lost. Proponents see a much cleaner, more efficient economy, a safer country, and millions of Americans making clean technology to export to the rest of the world.

A recent McKinsey study (BusinessWeek.com, 12/4/07) concludes that the overall price tag is minimal. But getting there will require massive shifts in everything from energy production (from fossil fuels to renewable) to how Americans live (burning far less gasoline and making houses more efficient).