Ron DeSantis, Florida’s Republican governor, is back in the spotlight as he informs residents of the arrival of Hurricane Milton, amid warnings that it could be one of the most powerful storms to ever hit the state.

DeSantis, who suspended his presidential campaign in January, is responsible as governor for implementing Florida’s emergency plan by coordinating agencies, marshalling resources and urging residents to follow evacuation orders.

It’s a role he can’t play because of his record on the climate crisis, Florida activists say.

“Florida is not safe with DeSantis at the helm of our state government,” said Matthew Grocholske, 20, campaign manager with the Orlando, Florida chapter of the youth-led Sunrise Movement.

Less than two weeks after being hit by deadly Hurricane Helene, the state is bracing for Hurricane Milton, a Category 5 storm.

Florida environmentalists say DeSantis’ policies to boost fossil fuels, suppress carbon-free energy and ignore global warming have fueled the climate crisis that has worsened such hurricanes.

Asked to comment on the criticism from environmentalists, Julia Friedland, the governor’s deputy press secretary, said: “You and your publication are despicable for spreading these types of nonsense stories on the day a major hurricane makes landfall in Florida.”

DeSantis on Wednesday urged millions of Floridians in Milton’s expected path to evacuate. “We are bracing ourselves and are prepared for a big blow,” he said.

Hurricanes – including Helene – are becoming more dangerous due to the climate crisis, which is mainly caused by the burning of fossil fuels. DeSantis has fueled that crisis with his policies and rhetoric, climate advocates say.

“When it comes to our climate crisis, Ron DeSantis is by far the worst governor in Florida history,” said Delaney Reynolds, 25, a doctoral candidate in climate resilience at the University of Miami and lead plaintiff in a 2018 youth-led climate lawsuit against the state government .

DeSantis’ opposition to climate action began early in his career. One day after taking office in 2013, the then-congressman voted against a measure proposed after Hurricane Sandy to ensure people could collect federal flood insurance claims.

During his run for governor in 2018, he pledged to protect Florida’s Everglades and waterways. But while he admitted that “human activity contributes to environmental change,” he also said, “I am not a global warming person.” More recently, he has gone further and labeled climate action as “woke.”

There is plenty of evidence that warmer ocean temperatures create more powerful storms, and preliminary studies show that Helene’s strength was made much more likely by global warming.

Yet As Florida was pummeled by record-breaking rain last June, DeSantis staunchly denied any possible link to the climate crisis.

“This is clearly not unprecedented,” he said at a news conference at the time. “I think the difference is, if you compare 50 to 100 years ago to now, there’s just a lot more development, so there’s a lot more impacts that these types of events can have.”

In August, DeSantis’ administration sparked outrage over the so-called Great Outdoors Initiative, which included plans to pave thousands of acres in nine state parks and build 350-room hotels, golf courses and pickleball courts. In May, the governor made headlines for signing legislation that removed most references to climate change from state law. The policy, which took effect July 1, restructured the state’s energy policy to negate goals of boosting wind and solar energy, focusing instead on hardening energy infrastructure against “natural and man-made threats”.

“We are restoring common sense to our approach to energy and rejecting the agenda of the radical green fanatics,” DeSantis wrote on X.

During his run for president in the 2024 Republican primaries, DeSantis also pledged to boost domestic oil and gas production and fend off electric vehicle mandates, measures that climate experts warned would have increased greenhouse gas emissions.

His promises are in line with his state policy. This past legislative session, DeSantis reportedly quietly helped bring about a ban on wind energy infrastructure in Florida. And he also signed a sweeping energy omnibus bill that would boost the gas industry and increase barriers to purchasing electric vehicles.

“The Florida we grew up loving is slipping away with every storm, and DeSantis is ignoring that,” Yoca said Arditi-Rocha, executive director of the Orlando-based nonprofit Cleo Institute, which advocates for climate education. “We are losing the places that define who we are as Floridians, and DeSantis is moving us in that direction, ignoring this crisis in his own backyard for political reasons.”

Last year, DeSantis rejected federal support for energy efficiency, electrification and reducing carbon pollution. In 2022, he vetoed a $5 million allocation from the state budget for a hurricane shelter in a northeastern Florida city and banned the state pension fund from making investment decisions that took the climate crisis into account. And last year, he passed a bill banning Florida cities from adopting 100% clean energy goals. Such policies have exacerbated the climate crisis that fuels hurricanes like Milton and Helene, Grocholske said.

“The catastrophic level of this hurricane is directly due to the policies our state government is pursuing,” Grocholske said. “It is clear that the (DeSantis) administration has been one of the greatest threats to climate justice that our state has faced in its history.”

It is baffling that DeSantis has attacked climate efforts but also supported environmental conservation, saying he is channeling conservationist President Theodore Roosevelt. This year alone, he announced funds to restore the Everglades, address harmful algal blooms and direct revenues from a tribal compact to fund flood control and water quality improvements.

Arditi-Rocha said her organization “applauds” DeSantis’ conservation efforts, noting that some of them could help protect the health of crucial carbon sinks. But these steps cannot make up for his pro-fossil fuel policies, she said.

“Climate change is a data overload, and DeSantis is coming with towels,” she said. “He puts on more and more towels without turning off the tap, without addressing the cause of the problem.”

DeSantis often describes his conservation initiatives as economically beneficial. But increasing carbon emissions is costing the state money and lives, Reynolds said.

“Frankly, he should be given special credit for so openly, consistently and consciously failing to address the root cause of our climate crisis,” she said. “What he has done will tragically cost our state billions, if not trillions, in damages for generations to come.”