The Republican candidates for president have taken differing positions over the federal role in dealing with global warming, the New York Times reported today. The Democratic candidates, in contrast, substantially agree about how the government should approach an issue that centrally involves the conclusions of academic scientists.
Despite their divisions, strikingly, all of the Republicans have generally acknowledged the overwhelming consensus among scientists that global warming is substantially caused by humans and that the earth’s environment is threatened. That’s a departure from President Bush, who cited last year a “fundamental debate” among scientists over that question. But polls indicate that Americans are taking the research findings and the threat seriously, which could help explain the Republican candidates’ deference to the scientists’ warnings.
Still, as the Times pointed out, the Republican candidates differ about how to respond to the rise in greenhouse gases that are causing global warming. Sen. John McCain is the only one who supports mandatory limits. He favors a “cap-and-trade” system that give carbon producers like coal-burning power plants flexibility to comply.
Rudolph W. Giuliani and Mitt Romney have said little about greenhouse gases or climate change. They have emphasized the development of ethanol and other renewable-energy sources, which happen to emit less carbon than fossil fuels, in order to reduce America’s dependence on imported petroleum.
In April Fred Thompson mocked the threat from climate change, but more recently said that “climate change is real” and suggested a measured approach until more was known about it, the Times reported.
The three Democratic candidates leading in the polls — Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and Barack Obama — all support a mandatory limit on emissions, with a cap-and-trade provision, to help accomplish the goal of decreasing emissions by 80 percent by 2050.
Like the Republicans, the Democrats have spent little time in their debates discussing federal policy on climate change. But the Democratic candidates touted their embrace of the issue by praising Al Gore’s receipt last week of a Nobel prize for his work publicizing global warming.
