Here's where the 2024 presidential candidates stand on climate change

The 2024 U.S. presidential election may prove to be pivotal in how the country handles climate change.

When the next president enters office in January 2025, the U.S. will be a mere 25 years away from its goal to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

Here's a brief look at where the major candidates stand on the issue.

Kamala Harris

Harris has touted the work of the Biden administration for making the "largest investment ever, to take on the climate crisis" through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act. She cast the tie-breaking vote on the Inflation Reduction Act, which invested billions to tackle climate change and invest in clean energy.

Harris has defended her shifting policy on fracking, which she opposed in her 2019 Democratic campaign for president.

"What I have seen is that we can grow, and we can increase a clean energy economy without banning fracking," she said in an interview with CNN, vowing as president she would not ban fracking.

She's said as president she would "unite Americans to tackle the climate crisis as she builds on this historic work, advances environmental justice, protects public lands and public health, increases resilience to climate disasters, lowers household energy costs, creates millions of new jobs, and continues to hold polluters accountable to secure clean air and water for all."

Donald Trump

Trump previously falsely dismissed climate change as a "hoax" or "nonexistent."

He's also repeatedly downplayed the dangers of rising sea levels and referred to proposed regulations to mitigate global warming as "radical."

Throughout his presidency, Trump reversed many American commitments to mitigating climate change, most notably withdrawing from the Paris agreement, removing clean water and air pollution protections and seeking to fast track environmental reviews of dozens of major energy and infrastructure projects, such as drilling and fuel pipelines, which he said would help boost American energy production and the economy.

Still, Trump also labels himself a champion of the environment, emphasizing the importance of clean water and clean air.