Democratic presidential candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a presidential debate with Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.

Alex Brandon/AP/AP

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Alex Brandon/AP/AP

When the presidential debate moderators asked the candidates about their plans to combat climate change, Vice President Kamala Harris highlighted a problem that has been quietly unfolding across the country: homeowners are losing their insurance.

According to Harris, the costs of not taking action on global warming are already having an impact: Homeowners across the country are facing skyrocketing insurance costs — or losing their coverage — as extreme weather events like storms and wildfires become more extreme.

Climate change is “very real,” Harris said. “Ask anyone who lives in a state that has experienced these extreme weather events and now either can’t get home insurance or it’s being increased; ask anyone who has been a victim of what that means in terms of losing their home, not having anywhere to go.”

It’s an issue that Harris’ campaign appears to have focused on. The day before the debate, Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, was in Nevada near the davis firewhere he spoke with aid workers about rising insurance costs.

“We are seeing a lot of our residents losing their fire insurance and/or premiums going up, you know, 1,000%, so (Walz) was very aware of that issue,” said Adam Mayberrya spokesperson for Truckee Meadows Fire and Rescue.

Much of the unrest is concentrated in states such as California And Colorado that face the threat of forest fires, and in coastal states such as Louisiana And Florida where storms cause billions of dollars in damage.

A recent report states that The Federal Reserve said Low- and middle-income homeowners in the middle of the country are buying lower coverage as premiums rise. Also, some low-income households are canceling their insurance in an area that includes Texas and parts of Louisiana and New Mexico.

The shrinkage of home insurance options comes at a time when most american families have little savingsand many can’t get a loan to repair a home that has been damaged or destroyed. So if people can’t get home insurance, or don’t have enough coverage, the consequences can be dire.

In addition to the threats posed by climate change, insurance markets are under pressure as the cost of disasters rises. People continue to move to coastal areas vulnerable to hurricanes and to rural, forested areas prone to wildfires. When homes are destroyed, inflation has made it more expensive to rebuild.

Harris was also asked during the debate about her stance on the oil and gas drilling technique known as fracking. When she ran for president in 2019, Harris supported a ban on fracking, but she has since changed course.

“I will not ban fracking,” Harris said, adding that the country needs diverse energy sources to “reduce our dependence on foreign oil.”

Despite the Biden-Harris administration’s focus on mitigating climate change, the US has produced and exported record amounts of oil.

Pennsylvania, the site of Tuesday’s debate and a battleground state seen as key to the race for the White House, is a major producer of natural gas. But the clean energy industry is also a major employer in the Commonwealth.

Trump did not say during the debate what, if anything, he would do to limit global warming. The former president has for years cast doubt on the scientific consensus that the Earth is getting hotter, largely due to the burning of fossil fuels. Trump’s campaign has said he would try to increase fossil fuel production in a second term.