On September 4, CNN hosted a climate change town hall event featuring 10 Democratic candidates running in the 2020 presidential election. Over the course of seven hours the candidates fielded questions on their climate views and policies.

The long night gave young voters a chance to grill candidates on their positions. Significantly, it marked what a Washington Post op-ed headline called an “unprecedented moment” of serious debate about the climate crisis from people running for the highest office in our government.

Here’s what we learned last night.

The Night’s Real Winners Were Young Activists Who Pushed for This Conversation

While candidates got the chance to distinguish themselves on climate policy, the greatest success of the town hall was that it happened at all. Youth climate activists have been pressing the Democratic Party to hold an outright climate debate among 2020 contenders, and though the format was more time-intensive, the town hall provided space for young activists to ask what The New York Times called “tough questions” — like when former vice president Joe Biden had to deny that a man throwing a fundraiser for him has ties to the fossil fuel industry.

The Sunrise Movement — a group that had several activists watch the first Democratic debates outside Democratic National Committee headquarters as part of their campaign for a climate debate and they asked several of the questions last night — took to Twitter to celebrate the attention the event had generated, writing, “The #ClimateCrisis will be the #1 issue in the presidential election for the first time ever.”

Sunrise also gave a shoutout to the U.S. Youth Climate Strike, the group that has championed Greta Thunberg’s school strike climate protest tactic in the States. Sunrise thanked the strikers for helping generate momentum that made the town hall happen.

“Much love for our friends at Sunrise! This town hall happened only because of the solidarity between grassroots organizations like us,” the U.S. Youth Climate Strike responded. “Tonight is proof that organizing works. Let’s build these coalitions, get organizing, and together, defeat the climate crisis.”

There’s a Growing Consensus on the Nature of the Climate Crisis and Some Policies

As The New York Times reported, there was a great deal of consensus among candidates on the nature of the threat posed by the climate crisis. There is a great deal of agreement as well that net zero carbon emissions must be achieved by 2050, if not sooner.