Republicans open door to climate change discussion. Young conservatives say it's essential.

For the first time ever, climate change is being talked about in conjunction with the Republican National Convention.

It's a conversation being driven by young voters demanding change from their representatives hoping for re-election. And it's happening more on the fringes of the convention, not during prime time and not in the platform.

At an event Tuesday evening that drew more than 100 to the Mitchell Park Domes, convention chairman Reince Priebus encouraged Republicans to start talking more about human-driven climate change.

"I think it's very important for the party to have this conversation, to have this conversation with people that are taking an intelligent look at what we can be doing," Priebus said.

Though not an expert on climate or clean energy, Priebus acknowledged, he's been talking with young conservatives about what the party could be doing to bring conservation more to the forefront of party issues.

"I think it's important for us to learn how to communicate, find out where those basic agreements on these issues are, and just start there and learn together," he said. "No one needs to be under attack."

U.S. Rep. John Curtis, a Republican from Utah who is running for the U.S. Senate, said at the event the change in the party has been rapid over the last several years. He started the conservative climate caucus, which has attracted more members this year. Curtis is now passing the torch to Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, an Iowa Republican and another strong voice in the conservative climate movement.

"Five years ago, it was a debate about the science. Today it's a debate about the techniques, and that tells you everything you want to know," he said. "Not only is (climate change) safe, it is really important to talk about from a conservative perspective."

The conservative climate event at the Domes was the first of its kind at any Republican convention. In 2016 and 2020, the party largely avoided talking about climate change, and in its 2016 platform said it was "far from this nation's most pressing national security issue."

Former President Donald Trump has been a part of the resistance to conversation about climate change, calling it a hoax several times before and during his presidency. His running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance opposes solar power and electric vehicles, and dismisses any human role in climate change. And both Trump and Vance have received heavy support from the oil and gas industry.

Further, while the 2024 GOP platform makes a cursory nod to innovation, it champions the lifting of restrictions on oil, natural gas and coal, and contains the line, "We will DRILL, BABY, DRILL."

When asked about how that squared with his environmental beliefs, Curtis said Republicans are just looking to affirm their conservative values while leaving "the earth better than we found it."

"That's what the caucus is showing them," he said.

At one point, Curtis' district was one of the youngest in the nation, and talking about climate change was a requirement for those young voters. While he said it's hard to tell how much of his support was a direct result of his climate stance, it definitely had a big impact.

"I've had town hall meetings where I can see the youth, can see their disappointment," he said. "And so I think it's fair to say it's influenced me."

Not surprisingly, Democrats remain critical of Republicans, saying conservative policies don't address fossil fuel use and the degradation of outdoor spaces.

"I don't trust them on this. I think they're doubling down on oil production," said Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat. "They swore they would roll back all the progress we're making."

Quentin Fulks, the principal deputy campaign manager for the Biden-Harris campaign, said talking about climate change at the convention doesn't mean Republicans will actually do anything.

And other environmental organizations have highlighted how conservatives aren't doing enough on climate change currently — with Climate Power even going as far as putting up an art installation in a downtown Milwaukee during the first days of the convention. It showed what appeared to be a group of oil executives with their heads literally stuck in the sand piled on top of the table. It was a bold statement, hosted only blocks away from where Republicans gathered.

But young conservatives argue they are pushing for action, and in many cases helping to propel the conservative environmentalist message further. They say they're laying the groundwork for a future Republican party that may be able to work in a bipartisan manner on climate change issues.

Republicans will lose young vote if they don't embrace climate change issues

Benji Backer, 26, has been working diligently since his teens to get other conservatives to see how big of an issue climate change is. Now, he and the group he founded, the American Climate Coalition, are getting attention from Republican lawmakers like Curtis.

"This is an absolute generational issue that will dictate the future of the Republican party," Backer said. "There's no future for the Republican party if they don't have a strong environmental and climate platform."

Backer said that conservative lawmakers need to get on board, or they're going to end up losing the vote of young conservatives who don't see their values or priorities reflected by the party.

"My goal is to protect the environment, not to protect conservative legislators," he said. "I have conservative values, but I'm an environmentalist before any party affiliation."

Backer said he could be driven to consider a liberal candidate, if that's who better aligned with his thoughts on conservation.

"Right now Donald Trump hasn't earned my vote. Joe Biden hasn't earned my vote either," he said. "So I feel pretty politically homeless when it comes to the presidential election, but again, I'll put the environment before political party, but it's also not the only issue I care about."

Chris Barnard, 26, the president of American Climate Coalition, said addressing the climate can be done in a way that's "authentically conservative," and would align more with the values Republicans have already adopted. For example, there shouldn't be a push to ban fossil fuels as a source of energy in America.

"Oil and gas are not going to go away overnight. And just because we might shut down oil and gas projects or export terminals, doesn't actually mean that the demand for those goes away," he said.

But just because oil, gas and coal remain options doesn't mean Republicans can't learn to embrace solar or wind power.

"Republicans need to understand that an all-of-the-above energy approach includes being dominant in every single source of energy," Barnard said. "And there's huge economic opportunity if we do that."

Still, some young people are skeptical of the Republican party's ability to change their stance on climate change.

Geneva McLain, 22, attended the conservative climate event Tuesday as a part of a project she's working on gauging faith in democracy. A political science graduate student at the University of Rochester, McLain isn't registered with either party because she's not enthused with the candidates. Her concern with the Republican Party is that it has sown such distrust of science is "really, really concerning."

Backer acknowledged the party's past resistance, but said he and other passionate young voters are forcing the party's hand. "You wouldn't see the conservative climate caucus or the shift in the Republican Party towards climate progress without the youth vote kind of pushing them to the brink," he said.

"What I've told elected officials is that it's not that climate change needs to be the number one issue for this to dictate the outcome of this election. It's a litmus test for young people. Do you care about me? Do you care about my future?"

Laura Schulte can be reached at [email protected]. Siddhant Pusdekar can be reached at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Republicans open the door to climate change discussion at RNC.