Elizabeth Warren consistently ranks as a leader of the liberal left, but when it comes to climate change the Massachusetts senator and many other prominent Democrats are lagging behind, a new report claims, and are not taking the steps required to prevent the globe from plunging into manmade catastrophe.
The report, released on Wednesday by California-based liberal Super Pac Climate Hawks Vote, is the first to rank Senate Democrats’ environmental records not solely on congressional votes, but on their leadership and vocal support for action on climate change. That includes things like how many floor speeches a senator has given on the issue, and how many climate-related bills they have introduced.
The report came to some surprising (and not-so-surprising) conclusions about the Democratic party. While some senators scored well on the report’s -100 to +100 scale, most were middle-of-the-pack, and several scored near zero or negatively, meaning they either stayed silent on climate change or actively supported policies that exacerbate it.
Some Democrats at the bottom are no surprise. Claire McCaskill, a big proponent of oil production in Missouri, ranks worst. Joe Manchin, the senator from West Virginia who spent the runup to 2014’s elections blasting Barack Obama’s “war on coal” also places near the bottom of the list.
But some senators who have been considered leaders of the Democratic party also score low on the list. Despite her national prominence, Warren scored a lukewarm 25.
“Some Senate observers have expected Warren to discuss climate change more this year now that she is on the energy and natural resources committee, but so far she’s only made one public statement, engaged in minimal press release work, not written any bills, and cosponsored very few bills,” the Climate Hawk report reads.
Rhode Island’s Sheldon Whitehouse wins top honors on the list for his near-constant support of environment (he’s approaching 100 speeches on climate change). And Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, who is expected to announce his candidacy for president on Thursday, ranks fourth.
His campaign will reportedly focus on inequality, corporate abuses of power, and climate change.
