A Proven Climate Leader: Tim Walz Joins Harris's Presidential Bid

With Governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz chosen by VP Kamala Harris to be her running mate in the 2024 presidential election, many people are excited for his potential due to his previous heavy work on climate change for his past two terms in Minnesota.

Reuters

Walz has focused heavily on combating climate change threats in his state. The governor has enacted ambitious laws to lower fossil fuel use and in 2023 passed a law requiring Minnesota to obtain all its electricity from wind, solar, and other carbon-free sources by 2040, eliminating emissions from coal and gas power plants. 

These were both in part of a legislative session where Minnesota Democrats under Walz passed nearly 40 climate initiatives, including tax rebates for electric vehicles and expanding access to EV charging stations. In June, he signed a law to expedite the permitting process for renewable electricity projects.

While over half of the states require utilities to switch to clean electricity, only a few, like Minnesota, mandate such a rapid transition. Minnesota’s law sets a faster pace for clean electricity adoption than California, a longtime leader in state climate action. This law is also more ambitious than a similar standard President Biden tried, but failed to include in his 2022 climate legislation. Activists view it as a model for future state or national climate legislation.

If the Harris-Walz ticket wins, Walz would bring one of the strongest climate records of any incoming president or vice president since Al Gore, who won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his climate advocacy. Gore recently described the running mate as " a proven leader on climate and knows the issue thoroughly."

With President Biden pledging to reduce US carbon emissions by 50% below the nation’s 2005 levels by 2030, but as of right now, the law is only on track to cut emissions by 30-45% by the deadline. So, the potential of Waltz and his climate credentials coming into office could be crucial to help boost Biden’s agenda and promote other climate policies . 

However, Republican strategist Whit Ayres noted that choosing Walz, for his climate activism makes it easy to paint the Harris-Walz ticket as extremely left-wing. Former President Donald J. Trump, the Republican candidate, has called climate change a “hoax” and his campaign quickly associated Walz’s climate policies with those of California. 

Walz’s journey to becoming a climate campaigner began as his state experienced extreme weather intensified by climate change. Over the past five years, extreme drought forced Minnesota cattle farmers to sell their herds, wildfire smoke from Canada blanketed the Twin Cities and a lack of snow and ice affected ice-fishing and cross-country skiing, which led to economic losses.

“Climate change is an existential threat that impacts all Minnesotans and our ability to thrive,” Walz said in a 2019 executive order. “Communities, farms, and industry face more frequent extreme weather events that threaten our infrastructure.”

Walz, along with his care for the environment and appealing to rural voters has worked for him in his previous political campaigns; however, there are skeptics that it will not work for him in Washington D.C.

I want to finish off this with a disclaimer that I am in no way telling anyone whom to vote for in the upcoming election. Everyone should do their own research and analyze what topics and policies are most important to them as an individual. All I am stating in this article is that Walz has a history with combating climate change and if he made his way into office, he has the potential to help the country's environmental state immensely.