Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke announced Wednesday he will no longer accept campaign donations from executives in the fossil fuel industry as part of the "no fossil fuel money pledge."
In a brief video posted to Twitter, the former representative from Texas spelled out his reasons for signing the pledge.
"I wanted to let you know that I've signed the no fossil fuel money pledge. And I've done it in large part because I was asked to by students that I met at William and Mary when I was in Virginia," O'Rourke said.
"Students, young people, activists, and advocates that I've met all over the country, who understand that we don't take PAC money, we don't accept help from corporations or lobbyists or special interests. But given the enormity of our challenge right now, to ensure that we keep this planet from warming 2 degrees over pre-Industrial Revolution levels because of the fires, the droughts, the floods, the cost in human life that that will produce, and that we need everybody on board to meet this challenge head-on.
O'Rourke added that in order to prevent conflicts of interest between the campaign and its donors, he has returned donations over $200 to executives in the fossil fuel industry.
"We will not take that money going forward," he said. "And we continue to try to be the largest grassroots campaign in this country. All human beings, all fellow Americans, all focused on the same goals — including confronting climate change before it is too late."
Earlier this week, O'Rourke unveiled a $5 trillion plan to combat climate change.
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