| The culture war noise around green issues has, along with the ongoing questions over Biden’s physical and mental aptitude for continuing in his job, rather muddied any attempt for the president to win over voters who may be concerned about the climate crisis. Polling shows that the climate remains a minor priority for most voters, compared with topics such as inflation or immigration, while many progressive Democrats who do care about global heating have been put off by Biden’s willingness to allow ever-expanding oil and gas drilling, with the US now firmly established as the world’s leading fossil fuel producer. Still, the gulf between Trump and Biden remains vast and, for the planet, the contrast is significant. Trump has directly asked oil executives for $1bn in donations so he can enact industry-friendly policies in the White House, while the new Republican party platform doesn’t mention climate change but does state “DRILL, BABY, DRILL” … in capital letters. Meanwhile Biden, who calls the climate crisis an “existential threat”, can point to passing the Inflation Reduction Act, which has helped create hundreds of thousands of new jobs in emerging clean energy industries, as well as a slew of rules passed by his administration to cut pollution from power plants, cars and chemical facilities. The difference can be measured in emissions – according to analysis by Carbon Brief at least 4bn tonnes of extra greenhouse gas emissions will occur by 2030 if Trump is elected and, as he’s promised, dismantles Biden’s climate policies. With much of the US currently baking under severe heatwaves and with Hurricane Beryl, the most powerful Atlantic storm ever to form in June, this week hitting Texas, the climate crisis has never been more visible to Americans. It remains to be seen whether climate can disentangle itself from the culture wars and make itself felt at the ballot box, too. Read more: | 