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Climate change

When Mr. Trump is asked about climate change, he invariably responds that he has ensured the United States has the “cleanest air” and “cleanest water.” That is not true — air pollution is rising under the Trump administration — but it is also not the same as climate change, caused by human activity like burning fossil fuels.

Mr. Trump has called climate change a hoax and called those who care about the issue “prophets of doom.” He also has occasionally conceded that humans play some role in the planet’s warming. (Scientists have established that man-made emissions account for all of the climate change over the last 50 years, the period when the vast majority of changes have occurred.)

His policies, however, are consistently opposed to addressing global warming. Mr. Trump has moved to withdraw from the Paris agreement on climate change and has rolled back virtually every regulation aimed at reducing emissions from vehicles, power plants and other sources. He has promoted the development of fossil fuel energy, and made it easier for aging coal plants to stay online.

Many of his moves have been met with praise by officials in the oil, gas and coal sectors who felt regulations under the Obama administration were onerous.

Mr. Biden has attacked Mr. Trump as a “climate arsonist,” criticized the president’s dismissiveness of science and championed a $2 trillion plan to develop clean energy while driving down emissions. He has called climate change one of four “historic crises” facing the United States, alongside the pandemic, the ensuing economic crisis and racial injustice.

But he also has been on the defensive about some of his positions on climate change, particularly around the Green New Deal, a climate plan embraced by progressive groups and criticized by Republicans. In his first debate with Mr. Trump, Mr. Biden said he did not support the Green New Deal, but his website calls it a “crucial framework” for action.

Another area where Mr. Biden is likely to come under attack from Mr. Trump is fracking, the process of extracting oil and gas from shale rock. Mr. Biden has pledged a ban on new oil and gas permitting on public lands and waters but has assured union leaders that he will protect existing fracking jobs while pursuing a clean energy transition. Mr. Trump has accused him, falsely, of wanting to ban fracking altogether.