'Top cop' on climate: How will former AG Kamala Harris fight the crisis as VP?

California senator is the first black woman and first person of Indian descent to be nominated for vice president by a major party

Joe Biden's choice of Kamala Harris, a relative centrist, as his running mate suggests the presumptive Democrat candidate is focused on drawing in the party establishment and disenfranchised Republicans, even while courting progressives with plans like his aggressive climate and environmental justice overhaul last month.

With just over 80 days until an election which will chart the course of the climate crisis, where does the 55-year-old California senator stand on the issue?

Her stance

During her own short-circuited bid for the presidency, Senator Harris was to the left of Mr Biden on climate - putting forward a plan for a $10 trillion investment to cut emissions over a decade, five times what he proposed.

Mr Biden has since caught up. Following recommendations from his "climate unity taskforce" - led by progressive Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Democrat establishment stalwart former Secretary of State John Kerry - the presidential nominee in July announced a plan for a $2 trillion investment in clean energy over four years.

Ms Harris was an early supporter of the Green New Deal and although at one presidential town hall she advocated for a ban on fracking, her primary season climate plan omitted a solid proposal.

Where Mr Biden and Senator Harris have chimed, however, is in tackling the climate crisis and environmental problems by focusing on racial injustice.

Past successes and stumbling blocks

In 2005 while she was district attorney of San Francisco, Ms Harris established an environmental justice unit - highlighting cases of environmental crime in the city's poorest neighbourhoods including in one instance, a community newspaper's alleged dumping of hundreds of gallons of ink.

"Crimes against the environment are crimes against communities, people who are often poor and disenfranchised," she told the San Francisco Chronicle at the time.

After she became California's attorney general, she continued to push environmental protection issues. In 2015, after an oil spill which saw tens of thousands of tonnes of crude choke California's coastline, her office went after the pipeline operator, culminating in criminal charges and $3m in fines. In 2016, she won the state of California an $86m settlement from car manufacturer Volkswagen following its diesel emissions cheating scandal.

Despite her environmental record while California's top prosecutor, she failed to strongly define her climate positions early in primary season, leaving it to others including Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Tom Steyer to stake a claim on the issue.

In early climate surveys, conducted by the New York Times and Washington Post, she gave a series of boilerplate statements, and at times no answers at all.

Upping the ante

In recent weeks, Senator Harris has been burnishing her green credentials by undertaking a number of environmental justice bills. She introduced the Climate Equity Act with Rep Ocasio-Cortez which would mean that bills in Congress are rated by how much they adversely impact low-income and communities of colour, who disproportionately bear the brunt of pollution.

"Justice and equity must be at the forefront of combating the climate crisis," she tweeted.

Alongside Senators Tammy Duckworth and Cory Booker, she is also tackling a Supreme Court ruling that hinders black Americans and others unjustly affected by environmental pollution from suing under the Civil Rights Act.

What the climate community is saying

Al Gore, former VP to Bill Clinton and longtime climate activist, said Mr Biden's choice of running mate was a victory for those who care about combating the climate crisis.

He tweeted that the former VP "has selected an extraordinary running mate" in Ms Harris, adding that "Kamala has made climate and environmental justice a top priority in her career in public service, and I know she will continue to be a strong advocate in the White House".

Tamara Toles O’Laughlin, North America Director of the progressive NGO 350 Action, said in a statement: “Today’s announcement is historic and we honour the first Black woman to be nominated for the Vice Presidency. Harris has demonstrated a solid understanding of the scale of the climate crisis through the plans she released last year in her bid for the Presidency.

"We need strong voices for fossil fuel accountability at all levels, and Harris has made commitments we will hold her to. Her stance on polluter accountability and stopping handouts to the fossil fuel industry are at the top of the list for the climate voter. Harris’ recent Climate Equity Bill demonstrates her willingness to tackle environmental and racial injustice head on and we applaud her prioritisation of communities most impacted by the climate crisis."

The president of the Sierra Club, Ramon Cruz Diaz, tweeted: “Vice President Joe Biden’s selection of Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate cements this ticket as the strongest ever for proposed climate action."