by Tim Pearce

Sen. Bernie Sanders pledged to offset carbon emissions from his 2020 presidential campaign travel by donating contributions to renewable energy projects.

“Bernie Sanders is a champion in the fight for climate justice and, like him, we know we need to address our emissions through action, not just rhetoric,” Sanders’s campaign manager Faiz Shakir told HuffPost in a statement Thursday. “We are proud to lead the way in the fight against climate change by acting boldly to move our energy system away from fossil fuels and towards sustainable energy sources.”

The pledge follows a March 15 announcement that Sanders’s campaign would be the first presidential campaign to unionize under organized labor.

I’m proud that our campaign is the first presidential campaign to unionize.

We cannot just support unions with words, we must back it up with actions. On this campaign and when we are in the White House, we are going make it easier for people to join unions, not harder. https://t.co/JNv3dpss6D

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) March 15, 2019

Sanders has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to travel across the country on private jets during past campaigns. During his 2018 Senate re-election campaign, the Vermont senator spent roughly $300,000 on private jets alone. After losing the 2016 presidential primary to Hillary Clinton, Sanders spent about $100,000 from Clinton’s campaign funds on private jet travel to stump for the Democratic nominee.

Sanders is touting his progressive bona fides in an increasingly crowded Democratic primary field. Sanders is making early attempts to lock up his base against fellow Democrats who are increasingly showing favor to progressive positions.

Democratic presidential candidates Robert “Beto” O’Rourke, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand have all expressed openness to packing the Supreme Court with liberal justices to influence decisions.

– – –

Tim Pearce is a reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation. Follow Tim on Twitter.
Photo “Bernie Sanders” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0. Background Photo “Inside of Private Jet” by JetRequest.com. CC BY-SA 3.0.

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].