Hurricane Helene brought climate change to Walz-Vance VP debate, but was it enough?

In the wake of Hurricane Helene's catastrophic damage across the southeastern United States, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Ohio Sen. JD Vance met on the vice-presidential debate stage.

While climate change has stayed relatively in the background of the 2024 election cycle, Tuesday saw an undeniable shift, with Walz and Vance being asked about their climate positions as the second question of the night.

Leah Aronowsky, a science historian at the Columbia Climate School, told ABC News the connection between extreme weather events and climate change on the national stage is positive, but ultimately left voters with no new progress.

"The conversation around solutions fell back into old talking points," Aronowsky said.

Both Walz and Vance paid respects to the tragedy of Hurricane Helene, which left at least 182 people dead across six states, according to the Associated Press, and many still unaccounted for as search and rescue efforts continue.

The scope of the damage is massive, with entire regions completely inundated with flooding, ongoing power outages and homes and businesses left in ruin.

Climate change is intensifying weather events

Multiple factors contributed to the extreme rainfall and catastrophic flooding that unfolded across parts of western North Carolina, including the Asheville area.

First, the region had undergone a heavy rain event just before Helene which left the ground saturated, and rivers swollen. Helene then swept in, bringing a massive amount of rain that was enhanced by the nearby Appalachian Mountains.

"You sort of had this multiple-whammy of the hurricane, that orographic lifting from the mountains," Marshall Shepherd, director of the Atmospheric Sciences Program at the University of Georgia and former president of the American Meteorological Society, told ABC News.

Orographic lifting occurs when air is forced to rise over a mountain and cool, causing water vapor to condense. This enhances the rainfall in a particular region, Shepard said.

Human-amplified climate change is causing extreme rainfall events to become more frequent and more intense, according to the federal government's Fifth National Climate Assessment.

But when addressing climate policy -- and how a Walz-Harris or Trump-Vance administration would address the nation's carbon emissions -- viewers heard the same manufacturing and U.S. energy independence stances the campaigns have been touting throughout the election season.

Vance appears to question carbon emissions

Debates around energy policy, specifically regarding renewable energy versus oil and gas are inherently connected to climate change, in large part because fossil fuels are the largest contributor to climate change, according to the United Nations, accounting for more than 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions and almost 90% of carbon dioxide emissions.

Vance said the Trump administration's climate policy would focus on domestic energy production "because we're the cleanest economy in the entire world."

However, the U.S. is the second largest emitter of carbon dioxide in the world, after China, according to the World Resources Institute, with transportation releasing more greenhouse gas emissions than any other sector.

Additionally, Vance sidestepped putting forward his stance on climate change as a whole, seemingly only recognizing climate science for debate purposes.

"One of the things that I've noticed some of our Democratic friends talking a lot about is a concern about carbon emissions -- this idea that carbon emissions drive all the climate change," Vance said.

"Let's just say that's true, just for the sake of argument, so we're not arguing about weird science. Let's just say that's true," Vance continued.

CBS News moderator Norah O'Donnell fact-checked Vance on his statements, saying, "The overwhelming consensus among scientists is that the Earth's climate is warming at an unprecedented rate."

Walz aligns with 'all of the above' energy plan

Walz's position on climate change reflects that of Vice President Kamala Harris' "all of the above" energy plan, meaning investing in electric vehicle manufacturing while continuing to expand oil and gas drilling.

"We are producing more natural gas and more oil at any time than we ever have. We're also producing more clean energy," Walz said Tuesday.

"So the solution for us is to continue to move forward, that climate change is real," he continued, adding, "Reducing our impact is absolutely critical."

Under the Biden-Harris administration, the U.S. has continued to produce the most crude oil out of any country, at any time, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Crude oil production averaged 12.9 million barrels per day in 2023, breaking the previous U.S. and global record of 12.3 million, set in 2019, according to the agency.

Experts weigh in

Matthew Huber, a professor at Syracuse University who specializes in energy and capitalism, climate politics, and resource geography, said the VP debate was "evidence of the sad state of our climate discourse."

"One candidate [Vance] implied there's a debate whether or not carbon emissions cause climate change and the other [Walz] boasted, 'We are producing more natural gas and more oil at any time than we ever have,'" Huber said in a statement to ABC News.

"In 2020, there were real proposals like the Green New Deal that aspired to tackle the massive scale of the crisis, but sadly it appears that moment has passed," Huber added.

As a U.S. senator, Harris was an early co-sponsor of the Green New Deal, a non-binding blueprint for transitioning the country to 100% clean energy within a decade.

The Green New Deal was first introduced by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Edward Markey in February 2019.

When it comes to immediate climate action in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Aronowsky believes the homeowner's insurance market is a looming political crisis.

"Insurance companies are going to be responding to the increasing costs of rebuilding after each extreme weather event, homeowners are about to start feeling the costs of climate change, if they haven't started feeling it already," Aronowsky said.

As the impacts of many extreme weather events continue to intensify, Aronowsky believes American leaders must have "a more honest conversation about the fact that climate change is here now, and not just allowing the conversation to veer into future choices around energy policy."

"I think that would be a major step forward," Aronowsky added.

ABC News' Daniel Peck contributed to this report.