With Kamala Harris expected to take over from Biden as the Democrat candidate in the U.S. Presidential race, many are asking whether she will follow in her predecessor’s footsteps by making the green energy transition a priority and where she stands on oil and gas. She has previously supported stricter regulations on the oil and gas industry, in favour of advancing climate policy. However, she has, at times, backtracked on efforts to curb oil and gas exploration in support of President Biden’s climate agenda, a policy that she is likely to continue endorsing should she win the candidacy.
President Biden is viewed as the most pro-climate president in history, having introduced the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the most far-reaching U.S. climate policy to date. As Vice President, Harris supported this policy and backed Biden’s ambitions for a green transition, suggesting that if elected she would continue efforts to decarbonize the economy by reducing the country’s reliance on fossil fuels and increasing its renewable energy capacity. For several decades, Harris has been a staunch advocate for climate action, having sued oil majors, including BP and ConocoPhillips, as the attorney general for California.
Biden’s first national climate adviser Gina McCarthy said, should Harris take office, “She will fight every day for all Americans to have access to clean air, clean water, and a healthy environment.” These comments reflect Harris’s ambitions to continue expanding U.S. climate policy to become a major global clean energy hub and secure the country’s energy security. While Trump plans to once again pull the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement on climate change if elected, Harris will be looking for ways to ensure the U.S. meets its climate pledges within the agreement framework to support a global green transition. Although the U.S. is not currently on track to achieve Biden’s target of reducing emissions by half by the end of the decade, if Harris continues this administration’s climate strategy it could surpass this goal by 2035.
In terms of oil and gas, as an attorney general, Harris filed lawsuits against oil and gas companies, campaigned for the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the oil and gas industry and defended cap-and-trade initiatives to control carbon emissions. In 2015, she voiced her support for former President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan. She has defended California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard in court and has fought for the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to introduce regulations to control the GHG emissions from operating power plants. She has long been critical of offshore oil exploration and has previously attempted to restrict new drilling along California’s coast, as well as contested the federal government’s authorization of fracking in Pacific waters.
As a Senator, Harris opposed most of Trump’s energy strategy, including plans to offer up to 90% of U.S. offshore waters for oil and gas leasing. During this time, she became the co-sponsor of Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and Senator Ed Markey’s Green New Deal. As Vice President, she endorsed several of Biden’s energy policies, including the cancellation of the Keystone XL Pipeline, the passage of the IRA, delays on permitting for oil and gas pipelines, Interior Department refusals to hold timely federal lease sales, and a permitting pause for LNG export infrastructure. Despite her hardline stance on oil and gas, Harris is expected to largely continue Biden’s agenda when it comes to fossil fuels, rather than seek stricter action.
With Harris having supported more far-reaching climate policies in the past, environmentalists are questioning whether she might seek to advance U.S. climate efforts even further. Last year, Biden unexpectedly approved the controversial Willow oil drilling project in Alaska, which hurt his appeal in the youth segment. Climate activists ask whether Harris will break with some of Biden’s most unpopular decisions among youths by taking stronger climate action. However, this could also attract greater criticism from Republican voters.
Her support for a green transition and likely move away from fossil fuels has already attracted criticism from the Republican party. In her 2020 presidential campaign, Harris supported a ban on fracking, which she later backtracked on in support of Biden as his running mate. During his first rally since Biden withdrew from the presidential race, Trump called Harris “ultra-liberal” and the “driving force behind every single Biden catastrophe,” drawing on examples like her support for the fracking ban.
Despite previous efforts by Harris to regulate the oil and gas sector to reduce GHG emissions and curb harmful exploration practices, in her role as Vice President she has largely endorsed President Biden’s climate action and efforts to maintain U.S. oil and gas production in the mid-term. If she wins the candidacy, Harris would likely align her campaign with Biden’s energy agenda, seeking to continue the efforts of the IRA and set the U.S. on the path to undergo a green transition, as well as continue producing natural gas as a transition fuel.
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