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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President-elect Joe Biden has appointed former Secretary of State John Kerry as special envoy for climate, his transition team said on Monday, a sign that Biden is putting the issue at the center of his foreign policy.
Kerry, whose appointment does not require confirmation from the U.S. Senate, will have a seat on the National Security Council in the White House, the transition team said, marking the first time that an official from that body will address the issue. climate.
Biden has vowed to reverse the course on the climate of President Donald Trump, who doubts mainstream climate science. Trump pulled the United States out of the 2015 Paris climate accord and dismantled Obama-era climate and environmental regulations to boost drilling, mining and manufacturing.
While he was secretary of state to former President Barack Obama, Kerry, 76, called climate change “the world’s most fearsome weapon of mass destruction.” On trips from the glaciers of Greenland to the Solomon Islands, Kerry has emphasized cooperation to address climate change.
He will face a challenging task in gaining the trust of the world after Trump’s rejection of climate diplomacy. When Trump criticized the Paris agreement for being too expensive for Americans, China, the world’s top emitter of greenhouse gases, positioned itself as a climate catalyst and announced new targets in September to reduce pollution.
Before the landmark Paris deal, Kerry lobbied for China and the United States, the world’s second-largest emitter, to agree on emissions targets and work toward a global deal.
Kerry, who was also a veteran liberal Massachusetts senator and Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, is likely to get off to a fast start, as Biden has vowed to rejoin the Paris accord shortly after taking office.
NATIONAL SECURITY MATTER
Unlike Trump, Biden believes that climate change puts national security at risk because it leads to regional instability and requires more humanitarian missions by the US military.
The Biden administration, which will take office on January 20, is likely to help countries move away from coal, oil and natural gas, develop renewable energy and advanced batteries, and conserve delicate ecosystems like forests. The job will require Kerry to go beyond advocating for action under the UN climate framework.
“He is well aware that the role of the next few years is not to sit in the great negotiating rooms of the UN to put the final touches on the Paris regulation, but to mobilize the world around key areas of action,” said Paul Bodnar, senior director of energy and climate under Obama.
Kerry is also likely to work with a counterpart in the White House, expected to be announced soon, focused on domestic weather issues.
Late last year, Kerry launched World War Zero, a bipartisan group of world leaders and celebrities to combat climate change.
After Monday’s announcement, Ron Klain, Biden’s new chief of staff, tweeted, “Stay tuned!” when Varshini Prakash, head of the environmental group Sunrise Movement, said she was wide-eyed by the name of Kerry’s national climate policy counterpart.
(Reporting by Timothy Gardner and Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Dan Grebler and Peter Cooney)
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