In Their Own Words: Climate Policy and the Party Platforms

The GOP and Democratic Platforms take starkly different approaches.

The two major parties are miles, if not light years, apart on climate and energy policy. The two party platforms provide the official positions of both parties. Rather than editorialize about the differences, I thought it would be more useful to let the two parties speak for themselves.

I’ve pasted the relevant parts of the GOP platform below. The draft Democratic Platform has a lengthy discussion of climate change.  Rather than introducing a subjective  element by editing it myself, I’ve pasted the Party’s own summary of the  platform provision.  For those who are interested, however, the platform itself contains a detailed discussion of climate and environmental justice proposals. If there are any changes before it is finally adopted, other than replacing some references to Biden with references to Harris, I’ll do a follow-up post, [Note: The final verson released by the Democratic Nationa Committee did not contain any last minute updates.]

With that prelude, here’s what our two major parties have to say.

The GOP Platform

“Under President Trump, the U.S. became the Number One Producer of Oil and Natural Gas in the World — and we will soon be again by lifting restrictions on American Energy Production and terminating the Socialist Green New Deal. Republicans will unleash Energy Production from all sources, including nuclear, to immediately slash Inflation and power American homes, cars, and factories with reliable, abundant, and affordable Energy. . ..

“Republicans will reinstate President Trump’s Deregulation Policies, which saved Americans $11,000 per household, and end Democrats’ regulatory onslaught that disproportionately harms low- and middle-income households.

“American Workers are the most productive, talented, and innovative on Earth. The only thing holding them back is the suffocating policies of the Democrat Party. Our America First Economic Agenda rests on five pillars: Slashing Regulations, cutting Taxes, securing Fair Trade Deals, ensuring Reliable and Abundant Low Cost Energy, and championing Innovation. Together, we will restore Economic Prosperity and Opportunity for all Americans.

“Republicans will slash Regulations that stifle Jobs, Freedom, Innovation and make everything more expensive. We will implement Transparency and Common Sense in rulemaking.”

Draft Democratic Platform [Official “Highlights”]

“Joe Biden and Democrats’ Plan to Tackle the Climate Crisis, Lower Energy Costs, and Secure Energy Independence 

“President Biden is delivering the most aggressive climate agenda in history. His landmark legislation has unleashed a clean energy boom that’s reducing pollution, lowering energy costs, and has already created over 300,000 good-paying American jobs. He is on track to protect more of America’s lands and waters than any president before him, and he has restored our global climate leadership. He is positioning America to lead the future – energy independent, resilient, innovative, and strong.  [This paragraph appears in the final platform]

“Democrats will scale up solar, wind, and geothermal projects made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act and invest in clean energy R&D to build America’s legacy as a nation of new frontiers and possibilities. President Biden will expand the clean energy workforce, with a goal of tripling the size of the American Climate Corps by the end of this decade and making sure the clean energy and manufacturing jobs of tomorrow are open and accessible to communities that have been too often left out in the past. We’ll also eliminate tens of billions of dollars in unfair oil and gas subsidies and hold oil and gas executives accountable for potential collusion or price gouging. We will continue to implement the president’s Executive Order on Environmental Justice for all.” [This paragraph is a summary of the platform rather than an excerpt.]

[The platform itself contains some other relevant language:

2024 election, Climate Policy, Climate Politics, energy policy, environmental politics, Federal Climate Policy, fossil fuels, renewable energy