Are you doing something about your campaign’s carbon footprint?
Offsetting emissions
Joe Biden
Former vice president
Biden's campaign is offsetting emissions, a spokesman told The Post.
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Mike Bloomberg (Dropped out)
Former New York mayor
Bloomberg is no longer running for president. “Fighting climate change has been one of my top priorities as a mayor, business leader, and philanthropist,” Bloomberg told The Post. “I helped launch Beyond Coal, which has been called the most effective campaign in the history of the environmental movement and has retired more than half of all U.S.1 coal plants since its inception. Last year I launched Beyond Carbon, the largest-ever coordinated campaign to fight the climate crisis in the U.S. Overall, my personal investment in the global fight against climate change has reached about $1 billion and continues to grow.” His campaign is offsetting emissions, he told The Post.
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Bernie Sanders (Dropped out)
U.S. senator, Vermont
Sanders is no longer running for president. “Our campaign offsets all carbon emissions produced from travel activities and events by investing in renewable energy and carbon reduction projects,” a campaign spokesman told The Post. “Bernie Sanders is a champion in the fight for climate justice and knows we need to address our emissions through action, not just rhetoric. Bernie is proud to lead the way in the fight against climate change by acting boldly to move our energy system away from fossil fuels and towards sustainable energy sources.”
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Tom Steyer (Dropped out)
Billionaire activist
Steyer is no longer running for president. “The campaign is purchasing carbon offsets,” Steyer told The Post. “Our campaign strongly considers sustainability when choosing which supplies to purchase and which vendors to use. We use video conferencing to reduce staff travel, encourage the use of public transportation for daily commutes, and only fly commercial. Additionally, we are setting up a distributed organizing program to make sure that supporters can volunteer from home.”
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Elizabeth Warren (Dropped out)
U.S. senator, Massachusetts
Warren is no longer running for president. “Climate change is a threat to the safety and health of Americans — and it disproportionately impacts our most vulnerable communities. I’m in this fight all the way — and that includes offsetting emissions in this campaign,” Warren told The Post.
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Taking steps to reduce emissions
Cory Booker (Dropped out)
U.S. senator, New Jersey
Booker is no longer running for president. “As a campaign we make every effort to reduce our carbon footprint, including by renting a highly energy efficient headquarters, encouraging public transit use for our employees, and engaging in recycling,” Booker told The Post.
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Julian Castro (Dropped out)
Former mayor, San Antonio
Castro is no longer running for president. Castro's campaign is working to reduce its carbon footprint, he told The Post.
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John Delaney (Dropped out)
Former U.S. representative, Maryland
Delaney is no longer running for president. “We have implemented an environmentally friendly approach to all of our campaign offices and our use of renewable resources. We prioritized having LEED certified and Metro accessible office space for our MD headquarters and reducing the carbon footprint of our campaign travel,” Delaney told The Post.
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Tulsi Gabbard (Dropped out)
U.S. representative, Hawaii
Gabbard is no longer running for president. Gabbard’s campaign is taking steps to reduce its carbon footprint, a campaign spokeswoman told The Post.
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John Hickenlooper (Dropped out)
Former governor, Colorado
Hickenlooper is no longer running for president. Hickenlooper’s campaign is taking steps to reduce its carbon footprint, a campaign spokesman told The Post.
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Amy Klobuchar (Dropped out)
U.S. senator, Minnesota
Klobuchar is no longer running for president. Klobuchar's campaign is tracking its carbon footprint and working to reduce it, a campaign spokesman told The Post.
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Seth Moulton (Dropped out)
U.S. representative, Massachusetts
Moulton is no longer running for president. “We are working on tracking the carbon footprint of our campaign and are always looking to reduce it,” Moulton told The Post. “We as an office have a preference for rail transport, have gone paperless, and are located in a coworking space to share resources.”
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Eric Swalwell (Dropped out)
U.S. representative, California
Swalwell is no longer running for president. “I have signed the No Fossil Fuel Money pledge, agreeing to not accept donations from the oil, gas, and coal industry,” Swalwell told The Post. “Our campaign headquarters leases space in a building with updated, energy-saving lighting and heating systems, earning city and regional green-business certifications. We’ve made energy-efficient choices in our computers, copiers and other office equipment. I always want to walk the walk, and my campaign is exploring options to make sure that we really undo our emissions and we're not just buying hot air.”
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Andrew Yang (Dropped out)
Tech entrepreneur
Yang is no longer running for president. Yang’s campaign is taking steps to reduce its carbon footprint, the campaign told The Post.
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Looking into it
Michael Bennet (Dropped out)
U.S. senator, Colorado
Bennet is no longer running for president. “We just launched a few weeks ago, and we will certainly take a look at this,” Bennet told The Post.
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Pete Buttigieg (Dropped out)
Former mayor, South Bend, Ind.
Buttigieg is no longer running for president. Buttigieg’s campaign is looking into how to address its carbon footprint, a campaign spokesman told The Post. “I’m interested in decarbonizing the fuel that goes into air travel. I also don’t believe we're going to abolish air travel. This is a big country. And while I absolutely think we can do more to provide alternatives, like trains, I don’t think that we’re going to solve the question on how to get around the world without air travel. This is the sort of thing that I think we need to look at in a commonsense kind of way. ... Sometimes I fly because this is a very big country and I’m running to be president of the whole country,” Buttigieg said when his use of private air travel was questioned at a CNN climate town hall
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Bill de Blasio (Dropped out)
Mayor, New York City
de Blasio is no longer running for president. De Blasio's campaign said it was "looking into" reducing its carbon footprint.
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Jay Inslee (Dropped out)
Governor, Washington state
Inslee is no longer running for president. “I believe that the most important thing that a presidential campaign can do to address climate change is to make it the top priority and put forward concrete plans to defeat climate change of the scale called for by the science, the existential threat posed by climate change, and the opportunity involved in the creation of a clean energy economy,” Inslee told The Post.
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Beto O'Rourke (Dropped out)
Former U.S. representative, Texas
O'Rourke is no longer running for president. “In order to reach our ambitious climate goals, everyone will have to sacrifice and do their part to reign in the use of fossil fuels. We are currently looking at various ways we can address the campaign’s carbon footprint through rigorously verified offsets certified by American Carbon Registry, Climate Action Reserve, or Verra — especially those that spur conservation and create new profit opportunities for farmers and ranchers.”
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Deval Patrick (Dropped out)
Former governor, Massachusetts
Patrick is no longer running for president. Patrick's campaign is looking into how to address its carbon footprint, a campaign spokesman told The Post.
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Tim Ryan (Dropped out)
U.S. representative, Ohio
Ryan is no longer running for president. “I believe it is important for every citizen to do their own part, however small, to help reverse climate change. My campaign will lead by example and plans to stand by those goals,” Ryan told The Post.
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Joe Sestak (Dropped out)
Former U.S. representative, Pennsylvania
Sestak is no longer running for president. Sestak's campaign is looking into how to address its carbon footprint, he told The Post.
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Marianne Williamson (Dropped out)
Author
Williamson is no longer running for president. Williamson's campaign is looking into buying carbon offsets for travel and other activities, a spokeswoman told The Post.
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Background Political campaigns can generate a significant amount of greenhouse gas emissions, especially through the use of private jets for air travel. Several campaigns told The Post they operate out of energy- efficient buildings and encourage staffers to use public transit and hybrid cars when traveling. Some campaigns raised the possibility of offsetting their emissions by purchasing credits meant to reduce or capture emissions.
The Post is sending detailed questionnaires to every Democratic candidate asking for their stances on various issues. See all the issues we’ve asked about so far.
See our other questions on climate change:
- Would you support setting a price on carbon, such as with a carbon tax or cap-and-trade?
- Would you ban fracking?
- Do you support building more nuclear power plants?
- Would you ban fossil fuel exports?
- Should we rejoin the Paris Agreement?
- Would you end leasing for fossil fuel extraction on federal lands?
- Do you support the Green New Deal resolution?
- Would you eliminate fossil fuel subsidies?
How we compiled candidate positions
The Washington Post sent a detailed questionnaire to every Democratic campaign asking whether they support various climate change policies. We organized candidates with similar stances into groups using a combination of those answers, legislative records, action taken in an executive role and other public comments, such as policy discussion on campaign websites, social media posts, interviews, town halls and other news reports. See something that we missed? Let us know.
This page will update as we learn more about the candidates’ plans. We also will note if candidates change their position on an issue. At initial publication, this page included major candidates who had announced a run for president. If a candidate dropped out after a question was published here, their stance is included under the "Show former candidates" option. If they dropped out before a question was first published, the Post did not reach out to get their stance.
Candidate illustrations by Ben Kirchner.