Podesta to take over from Kerry
US PRESIDENT Joe Biden will tap senior adviser John Podesta as US special climate envoy once John Kerry steps down, Podesta and other White House officials have confirmed to The Washington Post.
Podesta, a senior adviser on clean energy and a veteran Democratic strategist, will remain at the White House rather than move to the State Department in his new role, which has not previously been reported.
His new title will be senior adviser to the president for international climate policy.
Podesta oversees the implementation of Biden’s signature climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act. The law devoted billions of dollars to accelerating the nation’s transition to wind, solar and other sources of clean energy.
Podesta also played a critical role in brokering the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement as a counsellor to then-president Barack Obama, and helped steer former president Bill Clinton’s environmental policies while serving as White House chief of staff.
The move comes at a crucial time for Biden’s climate agenda and global efforts to slow Earth’s dangerous warming.
The president is racing to finalise strong environmental regulations by the end of his term, as former president Donald Trump campaigns on a pledge to undo many of those actions.
The outcome of the election could influence the credibility of the US, the world’s biggest historical emitter of greenhouse gases, at the next UN Climate Change Conference.
Kerry, who turned 80 at the UN climate talks in Dubai in December, helped clinch a landmark agreement at the summit. For the first time, the deal calls for phasing out fossil fuels, the primary driver of rising temperatures across the globe.
“Secretary Kerry has put the US back in leadership on climate around the world,” Podesta said in a phone interview with The Post on Wednesday.
“And we’ll ensure that we keep up the momentum that has been built up through his efforts.”
White House Chief of staff Jeff
Zients praised Kerry for having “tirelessly trekked around the world” over the past three years, “bringing American climate leadership back from the brink and marshalling countries around the world to take historic action to confront the climate crisis”.
The timing of the move is in flux. Kerry has not set an exact date for his departure, although it will probably be between early March and late April.
Another factor complicating the move: The 2022 defence policy bill included a provision that requires the Senate to confirm special envoys reporting to the State Department.
However, White House lawyers believe that the provision won’t apply to Podesta’s new post. Kerry was not subject to the provision when he became climate envoy.
The next UN climate summit is set to take place in November in Baku, Azerbaijan. |