Ilana Panich-Linsman for HuffPost Montana Gov. Steve Bullock after signing several bills into law earlier this month in Helena.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the leading United Nations body of researchers studying anthropogenic warming, warned in a sobering report last October that governments must slash global emissions nearly in half by 2030, and reach net-zero emissions by mid-century, to keep temperatures from rising 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, the ambitious target of the historic 2015 Paris accord. The findings thrust the climate crisis into the national spotlight. In February, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) introduced the Green New Deal resolution, which called for a nationwide mobilization to decarbonize the U.S. economy over the next decade. It has become a litmus test for Democrats vying to topple the Trump administration, which has repeatedly dismissed and downplayed the threat of climate change. As a number of Democratic presidential hopefuls are embracing the ambitious Green New Deal framework — a few have rolled out comprehensive climate and green jobs plans — Bullock has joined more moderate candidates in calling for the U.S. to rejoin the Paris pact and invest in technologies to capture carbon emissions, but hasn’t gone much further than that. He has called the Green New Deal “aspirational” and said he’s looking to prioritize tangible solutions. In a wide-ranging interview with HuffPost days before he announced his bid for president, Bullock addressed a 2016 reelection advertisement in which his campaign touted that he challenged the Obama administration’s coal regulations. “As governor, he listened to us and stood up to President Obama to defend our coal jobs,” a longtime Montana coal worker says in the ad. “We’ve got to recognize that you’re going to be making steps. You’re not going to flip a switch overnight” on fossil fuels, Bullock told HuffPost. “I wanted to make sure that the Obama administration understood that.” The Clean Power Plan, the controversial Obama-era policy to cut emissions from power plants, would have “moved the goalposts” for Montana ― one of the largest coal-producing states in the nation ― by requiring it to double its emissions reduction target, Bullock says. Although he was disappointed with the final proposal, he worked toward finding ways for the state to implement the stringent emissions targets, according to a spokeswoman. Early in his first term, Bullock endorsed the development of the Keystone XL pipeline, saying it would “advance our domestic energy security.” And he decried the Obama administration’s 2013 proposed rules for hydraulic fracturing as “redundant,” arguing that states should retain regulatory authority over such activities on federal lands. The Washington Post has described Bullock as “ardently pro-fracking.” RL Miller, president of the political action committee Climate Hawks Vote, told HuffPost she “genuinely can’t see any daylight between” Bullock and former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, who has positioned himself as a moderate with a more cautious approach to phasing out fossil fuels. “Same reliance on fossil fuels,” Miller said of the two 2020 contenders.

ASSOCIATED PRESS This 2010 file photo shows the Colstrip Steam Electric Station, a coal-fired power plant in Colstrip, Montana.