Clinton Climate Policies Would Mirror Obama’s, ‘For Better and Worse’

A Hillary Clinton administration in the United States would be pretty much indistinguishable on climate and energy from the policies pursued by the Obama White House, according to analysis by grist.org’s Ben Adler.

“For better and for worse, Clinton’s record and stances are cut from the same cloth as Obama’s,” Adler writes, noting that ex-White House counsellor John Podesta now serves as her campaign chair. “Like Obama and Podesta, Clinton certainly seems to appreciate the seriousness of the threat of catastrophic climate change and to strongly support domestic policies and international agreements to reduce carbon emissions. But, like Obama and Podesta, she subscribes to an all-of-the-above energy policy. She promotes domestic drilling for oil and natural gas, including through potentially dangerous fracking.”

Clinton recently told the League of Conservation Voters that the science of climate change is “unforgiving,” but so are the politics. “There is no getting around the fact that the kind of ambitious response required to effectively combat climate change is going to be a tough sell at home and around the world,” she said, “at a time when so many countries including our own are grappling with slow growth and stretched budgets.”

The potential Democratic presidential nominee fully supports the Environmental Protection Agency’s landmark Clean Power Plan and connects climate change to women’s rights, Adler writes. She also promoted fracking overseas while she was U.S. secretary of state, has supported offshore oil drilling, and refuses to commit on the Keystone XL pipeline. “You won’t get me to talk about Keystone because I have steadily made clear that I’m not going to express an opinion,” she told a Canadian audience.

The article also summarizes financial connections between the Clinton family foundation and a host of oil companies and oil-rich nations.