Clinton brings in Gore as closer on climate change

Des Moines, Oct 11: Hillary Clinton is bringing in Al Gore as her closer on climate change as she struggles to appeal to young voters who consider the issue a priority. Vice president during her husband's eight years in the White House and a longtime environmental activist, Gore will join the Democratic presidential candidate at a rally in Miami today.

During the event, Clinton will be emphasising her plans to develop more clean energy, reduce fossil fuel production and build more weather-resistant infrastructure. She will also continue her attacks on Republican Donald Trump.

Speaking at Ohio State University yesterday night, Clinton said, "I'm running against somebody who doesn't believe in climate change or at least he says he doesn't, who has even said he thinks it's a hoax created by the Chinese."

During the primary contest against progressive Vermont Sen Bernie Sanders, Clinton offered clean energy plans and came out against the Keystone XL Pipeline, which is opposed by environmentalists.

"Climate change is one of the issues where the difference between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump is night and day," said Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon. "For many of the core supporters we are seeking to galvanize in the remaining weeks of the campaign, including young voters, communicating the boldness of her plan is important."

Trump has repeatedly questioned climate change and said he plans to "renegotiate" the Paris Climate Agreement, an international treaty designed to curb the rise in global temperatures. The world is on pace for the hottest year on record, breaking marks set in 2015, 2014, and 2010. It is about 1.8 degrees warmer than a century ago. Scientists have also connected man-made climate change to deadly heat waves, droughts and flood-inducing downpours. Gore explored global warming in his 2006 documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth."

Advocacy group NextGen Climate, founded by billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer, is backing Clinton and has put USD 25 million into a millennial outreach program. Their surveys of young people showed that early in the summer, many did not see a difference between Clinton and Trump on climate, but as they learned more, they moved toward Clinton.

"We've seen throughout this campaign that climate change is an issue that millennials care about deeply," said NextGen's political director Heather Hargreaves.

Despite Clinton's promotion of energy policies aimed at lessening climate change, there has not always been unanimity among her campaign aides about how strong that support should be.

AP