Democrats were allowed to dodge questions about climate change at Saturday night’s debate in New Hampshire, raising the ire of billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer, who has been struggling to gain traction with his clean energy message.
“There wasn’t a single question about climate change,” Steyer said in a statement. “That’s unacceptable.”
Steyer has been waging a campaign to make global warming the center of both the GOP and Democratic debates, with major ad buys in print, television and digital.
“Climate change shouldn’t be relegated to commercial breaks,” Steyer said through his group NextGen Climate. “It’s time for the Democrats to add a debate focused entirely on climate change and clean energy — it’s what voters deserve.”
Many scientists blame greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels for causing the Earth’s climate to warm, resulting in more severe weather, droughts and flooding. Steyer and the environmental community want the U.S. to make a hard shift to renewable energy, like wind and solar, to combat climate change.
The Republican debate last Tuesday in Las Vegas focused almost exclusively on national security. There too, Steyer’s attempt to inject climate change into the debate fell flat.
After the GOP debate on CNN, Steyer also indicated his extreme disappointment. “Five debates later, not a single Republican presidential candidate has laid out a plan to create millions of jobs and tackle the climate crisis by embracing clean energy,” he said. “What are they waiting for?”
