Harris’s record on climate and energy: the Green New Deal, fracking bans, and more

Vice President Kamala Harris endorsed liberal positions on climate and energy before joining the Democratic ticket with President Joe Biden in 2020, stances that will now receive much greater scrutiny as she pursues the presidency with Biden’s endorsement.

While her stances on energy have closely aligned with Biden during their first term, her past record on fossil fuels and climate is to the left of Biden’s positioning and could serve as a hurdle to wooing fossil fuel-friendly swing states that could determine the November elections.

During her 2019 presidential run, Harris called for a ban on fracking, and was one of the original sponsors of the Green New Deal resolution – positions that could come back to bite her in, for instance, the battleground state of Pennsylvania, where natural gas production is a major industry. 

Energy and inflation are topics that were expected to have significance heading into November – but will play an even greater role now that the Democratic ticket has undergone upheaval.