As wildfires in Canada have despatched plenty of smoke over the United States this week, engulfing much of the Northeast in a yellow haze of hazardous air air pollution, scientists are clear that we’re seeing the effects of climate change. But the Republicans campaigning for the presidency have largely downplayed the problem and rejected insurance policies that might gradual rising temperatures.

On Wednesday, even because the nation skilled one in all its worst days on file for air high quality, with New York City especially hard-hit, former Vice President Mike Pence mentioned in a town-hall occasion on CNN that “radical environmentalists” had been exaggerating the specter of local weather change.

His response mirrored what has turn into a sample amongst Republican officers. Many of the candidates acknowledge that local weather change is actual, in distinction to get together members’ years of outright denial. But they haven’t acknowledged how critical it’s, and have virtually universally rejected the scientific consensus that the United States, like all international locations, should transition quickly to renewable vitality to be able to restrict probably the most catastrophic impacts.

Here is a have a look at the place a few of the main Republican candidates stand.

Donald J. Trump

As president, Donald J. Trump mocked local weather science and championed the manufacturing of the fossil fuels mainly accountable for warming the planet.

He rolled back more than 100 environmental regulations, principally aimed toward decreasing planet-warming emissions and defending clear air and water; appointed cupboard members who had been brazenly dismissive of the specter of local weather change, including Scott Pruitt as head of the Environmental Protection Agency; and withdrew the United States from the Paris Agreement, below which just about each nation had dedicated to attempt to restrict warming to 2 levels Celsius above preindustrial ranges.

President Biden rejoined the Paris Agreement and undid a lot of Mr. Trump’s insurance policies, however the injury may not be fully reversible. A report final 12 months from researchers at Yale and Columbia discovered that the United States’ environmental efficiency had plummeted in relation to different international locations on account of the Trump administration’s actions.

Mr. Trump has given no indication that his method can be totally different in a second time period. He has repeatedly minimized the severity of local weather change, together with claiming falsely that sea ranges are projected to rise solely ⅛ of an inch over 200 to 300 years. But according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, sea ranges are rising by that quantity yearly.

Ron DeSantis

Gov. Ron DeSantis leads a state, Florida, that’s on the entrance strains of local weather change: It has been hit onerous by hurricanes, which have gotten extra frequent and extra extreme because the Atlantic Ocean will get hotter.

But Mr. DeSantis has dismissed concern about local weather change as a pretext for “left-wing stuff” and said on Fox News last month, “I’ve always rejected the politicization of the weather.”

He has, nonetheless, taken vital steps to fortify the state towards stronger storms and rising waters. Among different issues, he appointed the state’s first “chief resilience officer” and backed the Resilient Florida Program, which has despatched a whole lot of thousands and thousands of {dollars} to weak communities to fund initiatives like constructing sea partitions and bettering drainage programs.

Scientists help these types of adaptation efforts, as a result of the local weather has already modified sufficient that even aggressive emission reductions is not going to avert all the results. But they’re additionally clear that such measures are usually not sufficient on their very own.

Nikki Haley

Nikki Haley, a former governor of South Carolina, has acknowledged that local weather change is actual and brought on by people, however she has usually rejected governmental efforts to cut back emissions. Her advocacy group Stand for America said that “liberal ideas would cost trillions and destroy our economy.”

As ambassador to the United Nations through the Trump administration, Ms. Haley was intently concerned in withdrawing the United States from the Paris Agreement. At the time, she said, “Just because we pulled out of the Paris accord doesn’t mean we don’t believe in climate protection.” Over the following three years, the Trump administration systematically reversed local weather protections.

But Ms. Haley has supported larger use of carbon seize expertise to take away carbon from the air. She and another Republicans — together with one other presidential candidate, Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota — have offered this as a strategy to restrict local weather change whereas persevering with to make use of fossil fuels. Many consultants agree that carbon seize may very well be a strong device, however it’s unlikely to be adequate by itself, partially due to its excessive price.

Mike Pence

Mr. Pence has acknowledged that local weather change is actual. He mentioned through the 2016 marketing campaign, “There’s no question that the activities that take place in this country and in countries around the world have some impact on the environment and some impact on climate.”

But that assertion falls in need of the scientific consensus that human exercise is the first driver of local weather change. He has additionally downplayed the severity, like in his feedback this week that “radical environmentalists” had been exaggerating local weather change’s results. And as vice chairman, Mr. Pence had a hand in Mr. Trump’s defiantly anti-climate agenda, together with defending the choice to withdraw from the Paris accord by saying Mr. Trump had stood up for “America first.”

Mr. Pence’s political group, Advancing American Freedom, has denounced “the left’s climate radicalism” and referred to as for a rejection of “climate mandates.” It has additionally referred to as for expediting oil and fuel leases and taking different steps to “unleash the full potential” of fossil gas manufacturing within the United States.

Tim Scott

Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina has additionally acknowledged that local weather change is going on, once telling The Post and Courier, his home-state newspaper: “There is no doubt that man is having an impact on our environment. There is no doubt about that. I am not living under a rock.”

At the identical time, he has opposed most insurance policies that might curb carbon dioxide emissions. During the Obama administration, Mr. Scott challenged a regulation that might have required utilities to maneuver away from coal and undertake wind, photo voltaic and different renewable energy. During the Trump administration, he argued for dumping the Paris Agreement. And final 12 months, he voted towards President Biden’s expansive local weather and well being laws that may make investments about $370 billion in spending and tax credit over 10 years into clear vitality applied sciences

Chris Christie

Chris Christie acknowledged the fact of local weather change earlier than a lot of his fellow Republicans did. “When you have over 90 percent of the world’s scientists who have studied this stating that climate change is occurring and that humans play a contributing role, it’s time to defer to the experts,” he said in 2011.

As governor of New Jersey, he introduced a moratorium on new coal-plant permits, filed a successful petition with the E.P.A. to demand decreased air pollution from a coal plant alongside the Pennsylvania border and signed offshore wind energy laws. But state regulators in his administration didn’t approve any wind initiatives — and on the identical time, Mr. Christie withdrew New Jersey from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a multistate cap-and-trade partnership, and vetoed state legislators’ efforts to rejoin it.

He additionally mentioned in 2015 that local weather change, whereas actual, was “not a crisis.” Last 12 months, he referred to as for increases to domestic oil production.

Asa Hutchinson

Asa Hutchinson, the previous governor of Arkansas, has not spoken a lot about local weather change. But when he has, he has usually caught to the Republican Party line, rejecting authorities efforts to cut back emissions.

He criticized President Barack Obama’s energy plant rules and, in 2019, praised the Trump administration for its environmental deregulation. Shortly after Mr. Biden was elected president in 2020, Mr. Hutchinson joined a number of different Republican governors in pledging to sue if the federal authorities mandated emission reductions.

“Our power companies have voluntarily embraced sources of alternative energy without heavy-handed regulation from government,” he said at the time.

Vivek Ramaswamy

Vivek Ramaswamy started his presidential marketing campaign by claiming that “faith, patriotism and hard work” had been changed by “secular religions like Covidism, climatism and gender ideology.” In an interview with The New York Times, he outlined “climatism” as “prioritizing the goal of containing climate change at all costs.”

He can be an outspoken opponent of environmental, social and governance investing, or E.S.G., wherein monetary corporations take into account the long-term societal results — together with climate-related results — of their funding choices.

Mr. Ramaswamy helps utilizing extra nuclear energy and has painted a conspiracy concept for why many environmentalists oppose it. “The problem with nuclear energy is it’s too good,” he claimed on Twitter this April. “And if you solve the ‘clean energy problem’ activists lose their favorite Trojan Horse for advancing ‘global equity’ by penalizing the West.”

But many environmental activists cite issues concerning the secure storage of nuclear supplies and the potential for accidents as the explanation for his or her opposition — although they’re on no account united of their stance, and plenty of help nuclear energy as a carbon-free supply of vitality.

Doug Burgum

Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota has pushed tougher to deal with local weather change than most Republicans by actively figuring out carbon neutrality as a aim: In 2021, he announced that he needed North Dakota to achieve it by 2030.

He needs to take action by means of carbon-capture applications alone, with out transitioning away from fossil fuels. (Climate scientists are skeptical that that is attainable, whilst they agree the expertise holds promise.)

Mr. Burgum, who created a tax incentive for one type of carbon seize, argued in an interview with Future Farmer magazine in 2021 that his insurance policies confirmed “North Dakota can reach the end goal faster with innovation and free markets and without the heavy hand of government mandates and regulation.”