Kamala Harris avoids getting specific on climate change — for now

What would a Harris-Walz administration actually look like?

As the Democratic National Convention enters its final day on Thursday and the vibes-heavy launch of the Harris campaign formally enters the general election stretch, journalists are increasingly putting the pressure on Kamala Harris and her campaign to lay out a four-year policy agenda — with specifics. It’s a somewhat unequal ask of Harris, given that her opponent, Donald Trump, rarely faces in-depth questions about the feasibility of the policies he regularly suggests at his rallies.

Climate change, though not at the top of mind for the national press, is certainly one of those issues where Harris and her running mate will eventually have to lay out her vision, especially as the US remains publicly committed to reducing emissions with the goal of curbing rising global temperatures. It was one of the themes set to be centered by speakers on the final of the Democratic convention, according to a schedule leaked to NPR which included Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and West Virginia-based content creator John Russell, a booster of clean energy through his social media accounts.

To be clear, it’s not like there are going to be any big surprises in this particular arena. The Trump campaign, for example, is running a typically conservative-coded playbook on the twin issues of climate and energy policy. Trump himself has resurrected the “drill baby, drill!” chant first brought to the political stage by Sarah Palin and her Tea Party-adjacent followers during the McCain campaign in 2008. And his do-the-opposite-of-the-Democrats strategy of governance largely defined his first term in the White House, including his decision to pull the US out of the Paris Climate