Inside Hillary Clinton's Climate and Energy Plans - Anne C. Mulkern, E&E reporter

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, if elected president, likely wouldn't prioritize a sweeping rule on climate, her campaign chairman, John Podesta, said Friday.

The front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination would want to work with Congress on climate action, Podesta said.  But she'd probably focus on smaller legislative actions and employ executive powers, given Republican opposition to many global warming measures.

"I'd like to see a price on carbon, but I'm more optimistic about persuading Congress to support more investment in clean energy, more investment in energy efficiency, more investment in research and development," Podesta said.  "These are things that can create jobs and economic opportunity" and therefore could gain support.

They also achieve carbon emissions cuts "in the real world right away," he added.

Podesta spoke during a daylong conference at Stanford University in California on "Setting the Climate Agenda for the Next U.S. President."  Others at the event included the Obama administration's former Department of Energy secretary, Steven Chu, and James Connaughton, who chaired the Council on Environmental Quality for President George W. Bush.

The event was framed as examining the climate agenda for the next president, "regardless of who wins the election in November."  Many of those who spoke, however, talked about what Clinton would do or should do on warming, or when they referred to the next president, talked about "she."

Read more at Inside Hillary Clinton's Climate and Energy Plans