Source: GreenTech Media
Published: Friday, April 25, 2008

The contest for the Democratic presidential nomination is as close as it gets and the last round of primaries and could loom large in the battle between Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

The primary also happens to fall on Earth Day, a fitting date in a race where all three candidates have made the environment part of their platforms.

All three support a carbon cap-and-trade program, for example. Clinton and Obama call for a system that would auction off 100 percent of emissions permits, which they claim would cut carbon-dioxide emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. Sen. John McCain’s plan would reduce emissions 65 percent by 2050, according to USA Today.

The plans have led some, such as Environmental Defense president Fred Krupp, to call such a program “inevitable.” Others, such as Dan Reicher, director of climate and energy initiatives for Google.org, have said it still could take longer to create such a program than voters expect (see McCain, Obama, Clinton Reps Talk Energy and When Will the Climate Change for Climate-Change Legislation?).

The candidates differ in their stances on nuclear power. McCain supports the use of nuclear power, while Clinton doesn’t see it as “the first option,” but also isn’t ready to shut down nuclear plants already in operation, according to Gene Sperling, chief economic advisor for the Clinton campaign.

Obama reportedly has said that nuclear power isn’t “necessarily our best option,” but also that it should be explored as part of the energy mix, according to CNN and the Dallas Morning News. At last month’s ECO:nomics conference in California, Jason Grumet, principal energy advisor for the Obama campaign, said the senator sees problems with “current” nuclear technology (also see this Environmental Capital post).

All three candidates have called the environment an important issue, yet questions about global warming in televised debates and interviews are few and far between, according to the League of Conservation Voters. Out of 3,231 questions by political reporters from five networks, only eight were about global warming, according to a league tally (via Newsweek).

According to the latest league scorecard, Clinton has an 87 percent "lifetime" rating, while Obama has an 86 percent rating and McCain has a 24 percent rating. The scores rate the candidates’ congressional voting records on environmental legislation throughout their careers.

You can read more about the candidates’ environmental platforms on their sites (click here for Clinton, here for McCain and here for Obama), and in our Greentech Voter Guide (which also includes cleantech campaign contributors and the candidates’ cars) here.

Read what Greentech Industry leaders have to say about the current candidates and who they support on Greentechmedia.com.