Beto O'Rourke and Keeping Up With the Greens

Democratic Presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke unveiled a comprehensive climate change plan this week that seeks to achieve net-zero carbon emissions in the U.S. by 2050. The $5 trillion proposal is the most detailed climate plan announced by a 2020 presidential candidate to date.

But the policy wasn't even a day old when the Sunrise Movement, a youth-led climate group backing the progressive Green New Deal, slammed O'Rourke for not being more ambitious.

O'Rourke isn't the only Democratic politician to face criticism for his climate plan in recent days. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti also saw pushback over his Green New Deal plan for the city.

On this week’s episode of Political Climate, we look at how green Democrats need to be to win support from progressive members of their own party. Is this type of in-fighting a genius political strategy to push the envelope on what’s possible? Or will it end up muddling plans to address climate change?

Recommended reading:

• The Atlantic: Why Beto’s Climate Plan Is So Surprising
• The Hill: Group backing Green New Deal blasts O'Rourke's climate plan
• Streetsblog: Garcetti’s Green New Deal for Los Angeles Under Attack for Being Too Car-Centric
• Bloomberg: Ex-Trump Aide Who Backed Paris Accord to Join House Panel, Sources Say
• NYTimes: We Asked the 2020 Democrats About Climate Change (Yes All of Them). Here Are Their Ideas.
• Axios: What Biden and Beto just told us about the 2020 climate fight

Political Climate is produced in partnership with the USC Schwarzenegger Institute and The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation

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