Bernie Sanders Campaign Becomes 2020's First To Promise To Offset Carbon Emissions

[Donkees]

In a Democratic field where it’s increasingly hard to stand out on climate change, the Vermont senator is quick on the draw with a time-tested campaign move.

By Alexander C. Kaufman
03/21/2019

Excerpt:

In a statement to HuffPost, the campaign said it plans to fund renewable energy projects to compensate for the carbon dioxide spewed by the planes and automobiles in which Sanders and his staff will travel while they barnstorm the nation ahead of the Democratic National Convention in July 2020.

“Bernie Sanders is a champion in the fight for climate justice and, like him, we know we need to address our emissions through action, not just rhetoric,” Faiz Shakir, Sanders’ campaign manager, said in a statement. “We are 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.”

Climate change is already a central plank of Sanders’ second White House bid. In December, two months before he announced his candidacy, the senator from Vermont hosted a televised town hall with climate scientists and advocates to discuss the crisis. In February, he attacked Trump for ignoring climate change in his State of the Union address. During his stump speeches, Sanders routinely skewers the fossil fuel industry and promises to enact a Green New Deal if elected.

Over the past two years, he’s introduced legislation to set a national target for 100 percent renewable electricity by 2050 and spend $146 billion rebuilding hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands with climate-resilient infrastructure and clean energy.

The announcement boosts Sanders’ bona fides on the issue and gives him a leg up in a crowded field of Democrats putting more attention on climate change than ever before. The move comes a week after the Sanders campaign became the first to unionize.

The Sanders campaign is buying carbon offsets from Vermont-based NativeEnergy, ... Though founded and run by a former utility lawyer, the company, as its name suggests, transferred a majority stake in its ownership to a consortium of Native American tribes in 2005.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-climate_n_5c92f29ae4b08c4fec342ff4