By James Murray / Source: BusinessGreen

A senior figure in Hillary Clinton’s newly launched presidential campaign has fuelled hopes she would seek to build on the Obama administration’s recent wave of climate change policies if elected.

John Podesta, former chief of staff in Bill Clinton’s White House and chairman of Hillary Clinton for America, yesterday wrote on Twitter that tackling climate change would be a top priority for the campaign.

“Helping working families succeed, building small businesses, tackling climate change & clean energy. Top of the agenda. #Hillary2016,” he wrote.

The comments will be taken as further evidence of Clinton’s desire to prioritise action on climate change, which according to recent polls has majority support amongst Americans. They will also fuel hopes that a Clinton presidency would retain controversial environmental regulations introduced by the Obama administration in recent months, including new emissions standards for coal-fired power plants that are the subject of intense opposition from Republicans and some business groups.

Last year, Clinton declared herself “delighted” with the Obama standards and predicted that they would help the US realise its potential to “become a 21st century clean energy superpower”. She has also previously said that “the science of climate change is unforgiving, no matter what the deniers may say, sea levels are rising, ice caps are melting, storms, droughts and wildfires are wreaking havoc”, adding that it represents “the most consequential, urgent, sweeping collection of challenges we face as a nation and a world”.

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