Amid recent shifts in top climate activists and major retractions of highly cited climate alarmism research, New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is silent on whether the 10-year climate disaster deadline, the driving force behind her Green New Deal, is still applicable.
In 2019, when she first introduced the Green New Deal, she described climate change as an existential threat that would require the United States to overhaul its energy policy to avoid dire consequences. She cited a UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which argued that the planet could reach the crucial threshold of 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit above pre-industrial levels by as early as 2030.
AOC argued that it could lead to extreme droughts, wildfires, floods, and massive food shortages affecting hundreds of millions of people.
When she faced backlash over her legislation, and how unaffordable it was, she argued, "millennials and people, you know, Gen Z and all these folks that will come after us are looking up, and we’re like: ‘The world is gonna end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change. And your biggest issue is, ‘How are we going to pay for it?’ Like, this is our World War II."
She has not retracted her alarmist statements.
High-profile climate activists like Bill Gates have toned down their rhetoric. In an essay published in October, Gates wrote:
Although climate change will have serious consequences — particularly for people in the poorest countries — it will not lead to humanity’s demise. This is a chance to refocus on the metric that should count even more than emissions and temperature change: improving lives. Our chief goal should be to prevent suffering, particularly for those in the toughest conditions who live in the world’s poorest countries.
As one of the loudest and most aggressive voices supporting climate alarmism, AOC now appears unwilling to revisit her own predictions, even as the activists she once echoed begin to quietly walk them back. Many of these figures are adopting more moderate stances and practical solutions, focusing on measurable improvements rather than apocalyptic timelines. Yet Ocasio-Cortez may be reluctant to follow suit, both to maintain her appeal with the progressive base of the Democratic Party and to keep her options open for a potential presidential run in 2028.
