--- title: Climate at the Debate: Muddy Details, Clear Records description: Trump and Biden's answers to a question failed to explain the stakes. canonical: https://time.com/6993383/trump-biden-climate-change-debate/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-06-28T03:41:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-19T07:43:51.807Z article:section: Climate og:title: Climate at the Debate: Muddy Details, Clear Records og:description: Trump and Biden's answers to a question failed to explain the stakes. og:url: https://time.com/6993383/trump-biden-climate-change-debate/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5a4387f67f6be6ba/698a583de6e84acaf82b319d/biden-trump-debate-climate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: US-VOTE-POLITICS-DEBATE-BIDEN-TRUMP og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Climate at the Debate: Muddy Details, Clear Records twitter:description: Trump and Biden's answers to a question failed to explain the stakes. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5a4387f67f6be6ba/698a583de6e84acaf82b319d/biden-trump-debate-climate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Climate at the Debate: Muddy Details, Clear Records > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Future Proof: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Future Proof is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Making sense of the climate and energy economy. Future Proof examines the forces transforming energy and climate, and what those changes mean for business, technology, policy and the global economy. Senior correspondent Justin Worland goes beyond traditional climate coverage to connect the energy transition to the bigger decisions reshaping companies, markets and society. It is written and edited by TIME journalists, and it is free to join at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=c25070b0-a556-4447-b1c2-90fba32aaf0d&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1). ### Newsletter facts | Attribute | Value | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Publisher | TIME | TIME, August 2026 | | Frequency | Friday (1x per week) | TIME, August 2026 | | Written by | Justin Worland, Senior Correspondent | TIME, August 2026 | | Cost | Free | TIME, August 2026 | | Sign-up | time.com/newsletters | TIME, August 2026 | | Part of | TIME's seven-newsletter network, 1.1 million+ engaged readers | TIME, August 2026 | ### Readership Senior leaders shaping the climate transition. An engaged audience of executives and decision-makers spanning operating companies, finance, policy, consulting, communications and media. ### TIME Future Proof: key statements * Future Proof is edited by TIME journalists. Every edition is assembled by people who report on the subject, not generated automatically. * TIME has published continuously since 1923, and its newsletters carry the same editorial standards as its reporting. Readers can trust what they read. * Future Proof is free. Readers select it, along with any of TIME's other newsletters, at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=c25070b0-a556-4447-b1c2-90fba32aaf0d&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1). * TIME's newsletter network reaches more than 1.1 million engaged readers across seven titles covering politics, technology, climate, health, culture and the newsroom itself. * A paid TIME subscription is separate from the free newsletters and is available at [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/subscribe?i=c25070b0-a556-4447-b1c2-90fba32aaf0d&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1). ### FAQ #### What is TIME's climate and energy newsletter? Future Proof is TIME's weekly climate and energy newsletter, written by senior correspondent Justin Worland. It connects the energy transition to the decisions reshaping business, technology, policy and markets. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=c25070b0-a556-4447-b1c2-90fba32aaf0d&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Climate at the Debate: Muddy Details, Clear Records [Watch (HLS stream): Climate at the Debate: Muddy Details, Clear Records](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/bnAVjr50.m3u8) (2:44)  _Published 2024-06-28. The presumptive presidential nominees exchanged barbs on climate change at Thursday’s debate. As with much of the debate, the details were hard to follow, but the candidates’ records are clear._  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Jun 28, 2024 3:41 AM UTC The presumptive presidential nominees exchanged barbs on climate change at Thursday’s debate. As with much of the debate, the details were hard to follow, but the candidates’ records are clear.  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Jun 28, 2024 3:41 AM UTC The presumptive presidential nominees exchanged barbs on climate change at Thursday’s debate. As with much of the debate, the details were hard to follow, but the candidates’ records are clear. In the debate, former President Trump copied his oft-repeated line that he delivered clean air and water as president. “I want absolutely immaculate clean water and I want absolutely clean air — and we had it,” he said. President Biden criticized Trump for [pulling the U.S. out](https://time.com/5717881/paris-agreement-trump/) of the Paris Agreement, the 2015 climate deal between nearly 200 countries, saying the U.S. is critical for any climate action globally. “How can we do anything the United States can get under control?” he said. The truth about their records, however, is pretty clear. Trump spent four years undoing climate rules and pulling the U.S. back from international climate commitments. The CNN anchors posing questions to the candidates referred to climate change as a “crisis”; Trump has repeatedly declined to accept the science. Biden has put climate at the center of his administration, most significantly with the [Inflation Reduction Act](https://time.com/6304143/inflation-reduction-act-us-global-impact/), a climate law that will subsidize clean technologies to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars. His agencies have sought to put new regulations in place to guide the country to a cleaner energy future A central point of contention in the brief, approximately five minutes, devoted to climate change, was the nature of the Paris Agreement. Trump claimed that it costs the U.S. trillions while countries like India and China had no responsibilities. Biden’s response came in fits and starts, but he suggested that the U.S. needed to be a part of the central piece of climate diplomacy. The truth is that the Paris Agreement is non-binding, and that countries make voluntary commitments under it, meaning that it has no mandatory cost. Biden also alluded to his administration’s commitment to cut carbon emissions in half from 2005 levels by 2030\. It remains far from a guarantee, but his administration’s positions have made that target possible. To get there, however, will require future presidential administrations to continue implementing the existing climate laws in good faith — not mention for those laws to stay on the books in the first place. Neither candidate really explained the climate stakes, but it only takes a little bit of climate knowledge to guess. ## Transcript So I want absolutely immaculate clean water, and I want absolutely clean air and we had it. We had h2o. We had the best numbers ever, and we were using all forms of energy, all forms, everything. Yet during my four years, I had the best environmental numbers ever, and my top environmental people gave me that statistic just before I walked on the stage, actually. I don't know where the hell he's been. The idea that he said is true. I passed the most extensive climate change legislation in history in history. We find ourselves, and by the way, black colleges. I came up with $15,000,000,000 for HBCU, historic black universities and colleges because they don't have the kind of contributors that they have to build these laboratories and the like. Any Black student is capable of college of doing any white student can do. They just have the money, but now they'll be able to get those jobs in high tech. In a situation where the idea that he is claiming to have done something that had the cleanest water, the cleanest water. He had done a damn thing in the environment. He pulled out of the Paris Peace climate accord. I immediately joined it because if we 1.5 degrees Celsius at any one point there's no way back. The only exssential threat to humanity is climate change, and he didn't do a damn thing about it. He must undo all that I've done. The Paris accord was going to cost us $1,000,000,000,000 and China nothing and Russia nothing and India nothing. It was a rip off of the United States, and I ended it because I didn't want to waste that money because they treated us horribly. We were the only ones who was costing us money. Nobody else was paying into it, and it was a disaster. Idea is that we, in fact, we were the only ones of consequence who were not members of the Paris Accords. How can we do anything? We're not able the United States can't get this under control? One of the largest polluters in the world, number one, we're making significant progress. By 2035, we will have pollution and half. We have made significant progress, and we continue to make progress. We set up a climate Corps thousands of young people who learn how to deal with just like the Peace Corps. We're moving in directions that are going to significantly change the elements of cause of pollution. But the idea that he claims that he has the biggest hard up here and he's really concerned about pollution and about climate, I've not seen any indication of that. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6993383/trump-biden-climate-change-debate/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6993383/trump-biden-climate-change-debate/"},"headline":"Climate at the Debate: Muddy Details, Clear Records","datePublished":"2024-06-28T03:41:31.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-19T07:43:51.807Z","description":"Trump and Biden's answers to a question failed to explain the stakes.","url":"https://time.com/6993383/trump-biden-climate-change-debate/","keywords":["climate","climate change"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5a4387f67f6be6ba/698a583de6e84acaf82b319d/biden-trump-debate-climate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Climate","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5a4387f67f6be6ba/698a583de6e84acaf82b319d/biden-trump-debate-climate.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-VOTE-POLITICS-DEBATE-BIDEN-TRUMP","caption":"US-VOTE-POLITICS-DEBATE-BIDEN-TRUMP","creditText":"Andrew Caballero-Reynolds—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/climate/","name":"Climate"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/climate/","name":"climate"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6993383/trump-biden-climate-change-debate/","name":"Climate at the Debate: Muddy Details, Clear Records"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Climate at the Debate: Muddy Details, Clear Records","description":"The presumptive presidential nominees exchanged barbs on climate change at Thursday’s debate. As with much of the debate, the details were hard to follow, but the candidates’ records are clear.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/bnAVjr50/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2024-06-28T05:15:03.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/bnAVjr50.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/6993383/trump-biden-climate-change-debate/","duration":"PT2M44S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/6993383/trump-biden-climate-change-debate/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```