Harris helped pass one of the strongest climate laws. Her policies don’t stop there | Leah C Stokes

Two years ago this week, I watched as Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote for the largest climate investment in American history. It was an emotional moment. After decades of inaction, the US had finally passed a climate law - one of the strongest climate laws in the world.

I didn't know it then, but a month later I would get a call asking if I would like to interview the vice-president about climate policy.

When we spoke, Harris demonstrated a depth I didn't expect - she geeked out over heat pumps, confessed her love of electric school buses and described the heavy burdens poorer communities face from air pollution. The more I learned about her background, the more I found a clear pattern: policy ideas that she championed became central to federal legislation. Our nation's landmark climate law, which is turning two years old this month, has Harris's signature all over it.

You can trace her influence by looking at her earliest days as a politician, then following the bills she sponsored as a senator, and finally examining her 2020 presidential campaign platform. During the earliest days of the Biden-Harris administration, when the Build Back Better agenda was coming together, Harris made sure that her priorities stayed on the list: electric school buses, cleaner water and investments for communities.

While she hasn't been given the credit, as vice-president, Harris has worked behind the scenes to champion her climate policies. And she's managed to get a long list of her ideas signed into law.

Earlier this year, Harris announced a $20bn investment in green banks that will reduce pollution in communities across the country. This was no coincidence - she was a key advocate for the idea well before it was written into law. In 2020, she was just one of five senators who backed a national climate bank.

Harris was also an early supporter of a plan to ensure clean energy workers had higher unionization rates. And sure enough, the climate law gives funding bonuses to projects that pay workers prevailing wages.