Elizabeth Warren is the Climate President We Need.
Warren is ready to rise to this moment of urgency in our ecological and national history.
I have never been involved in a political campaign before. I am a marine biologist turned policy nerd, and spend most of my time working to accelerate climate solutions. But this is a critical moment in American history for both salvaging our democracy and maintaining a livable climate. So I’ve been studying the candidates, and I could not be more strongly convinced that Elizabeth Warren is the climate leader we need for this moment. Here’s why.
Warren has released the most ambitious plan to tackle government corruption since Watergate, and she believes we need to get rid of the filibuster so we can make real progress addressing the climate crisis. Perhaps it’s a surprise to lead with this, but we will never have good climate policy so long as our elected representatives are bought and paid for by the fossil fuel industry, corporate lobbyists are writing our laws, and individual senators can block any meaningful climate legislation.
Warren has developed fourteen climate plans, on topics ranging from green jobs, to regenerative farming, to environmental justice, to clean energy, Wall Street’s financing of fossil fuels, to protecting and restoring our oceans. And, yes, they are of the scope and scale required to address this crisis. Warren proposes to: invest over $10 trillion into the new clean economy and create over 10 million new green jobs; set aggressive standards to ensure zero emissions from our building, transportation, and electricity sectors over the next decade; end offshore oil and gas drilling and expand offshore renewable energy; phase out fracking of natural gas; invest $400 billion in R&D for green technology; and invest $1 trillion in frontline communities who have born the brunt of the climate crisis. These are the Green New Deal details we’ve been waiting for.
Warren knows big ideas and promises are meaningless without execution. She has a strong record of turning plans into policy, gathering co-sponsors on both sides of the aisle, and actually getting bills passed. Before she was even in Congress, she created an entire federal agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to make sure people don’t get scammed by financial institutions. That agency has now returned $12 billion to 29 million consumers who were cheated. Running a compelling campaign is important, but when it comes time to actually govern, Warren also has the record to show she’ll get it done, and done well.
Warren sees that the climate crisis is fueled by big banks, asset managers, and insurers. Continued investment in fossil fuel extraction makes it impossible to address the climate crisis, and climate change poses a systemic risk to our financial system. So her most recent climate plan proposes to use Dodd-Frank to rein in Wall Street, use the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) to increase corporate responsibility, protect pensions by divesting from increasingly risky investment in fossil fuels, and require insurance companies to accurately price climate risk.
Warren pays attention to the details that matter. In addition to pushing for new legislation, her plans propose nuanced ways to use executive authority and to augment existing programs within federal agencies. This is key because the Trump administration has rolled back 95 environmental protections so far, with yet more cued up. We have a lot of work ahead to undo that damage. Policy details aren’t boring; they are what’s needed to rebuild from the regulatory wreckage of the last three years.
To quote Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, Elizabeth Warren speaks my love language: policy.
Crafting and implementing robust and nuanced climate policy will require an open mind paired with minimal ego. Warren’s commitment to carrying forward good ideas wherever they come from is unique in the field. She was an original co-sponsor of the Green New Deal, supporting the resolution crafted by her colleagues in Congress. When Governor Jay Inslee left the presidential race, Warren adopted his 100% Clean Energy for America plan for achieving net zero emissions on all new buildings, vehicles, and our electric grid (the three largest sources of emissions in the US) by 2030 and hired his deputy climate policy advisor — and she hired Maggie Thomas, his deputy climate policy advisor. She gives credit where it’s due and staunchly carries the best ideas forward.
Warren even listened to me. When my colleagues and I pointed out that the ocean, which plays a major role in our climate system, was essentially left out of the Green New Deal, she immediately saw the need to fill that gap. I had the opportunity to advise her campaign on what became the Blue New Deal plan, which proposes ways our ocean can be part of the climate solution — from offshore wind energy, to restoring coastal ecosystems, to regenerative ocean farming, to preparing for sea level rise. Warren is the only candidate with a plan for our oceans and coasts, which is a big deal because 40% of Americans live near the coast, and climate change is raising sea levels, strengthening storms, and decimating ecosystems, putting us all at risk.
Warren understands the need to be expansive in the approaches we consider and deploy. That’s why she’s open to carbon pricing, so long as it’s not regressive. That’s why she proposed prohibiting new nuclear plants, but letting safe, existing plants run their course, as they are a reliable, baseload source of carbon-free energy in the near term. And it’s why she has been a leader on calling to end the filibuster. These elements of her platform, plus her anti-corruption plan, are just some of the things that set her apart from Senator Bernie Sanders and other candidates on climate. We can’t afford to leave one hand tied behind our backs at a moment when we need full dexterity.
Warren understands that climate change hits communities of color and poor communities first and worst. Whether it’s heat waves or hurricanes, floods or fires, the people with the least suffer most. So, in developing her environmental justice plan, Warren went to listen to frontline communities from Detroit to Charleston, and she weaves principles of environmental justice through all of her climate plans. As she said in a recent CNN town hall, “I will not talk about climate without talking about climate justice.”
To zoom out, Warren’s proposals are grounded in an understanding that while climate change is a massive threat, it is also an opportunity for transformation. In addressing the climate crisis we have a chance to imagine a different and better way to live on this planet, to rebuild both our crumbling infrastructure and our middle class. If we cut emissions without focusing on justice, we’ll only further entrench our country’s massive and growing inequality. Conversely, we have an opportunity to make sure all communities leap forward as we transition to 100% clean energy.
Warren is ready to rise to this moment of urgency in our ecological and national history. We have the chance to elect a leader who is brilliant and kind and strategic, who surrounds herself with experts, who listens to communities, who holds corporations accountable, who appreciates that the details matter, who has both big ideas and a track record of making them reality, and who is a tireless fighter. We have a chance to elect someone remarkable.
The climate crisis requires that we transform our government, economy, and society. This means we need a leader with a very special set of skills and plans. Elizabeth Warren is the climate president we need.
Ayana Elizabeth Johnson is a marine biologist and policy analyst who advised the Warren campaign on their Blue New Deal plan. She is founder of the consultancy Ocean Collectiv and the think tank Urban Ocean Lab.
