Biden Names John Kerry Climate Envoy in New US Administration

By Staff, Agencies

Former Secretary of State John Kerry would become the highest-ranking US official ever to have a portfolio exclusively devoted to climate change when he joins President-elect Joe Biden’s White House next year.

The new title for Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee who represented Massachusetts in the Senate for 28 years: special presidential envoy on climate change.

While Biden’s transition team offered few specifics about Kerry’s role yesterday, he’ll be the first climate official ever with a seat on the National Security Council. And “presidential” in his title suggests Kerry will report directly to Biden, while “envoy” marks him as a senior diplomat.

White House climate leads under President Obama—former Clinton EPA Administrator Carol Browner and counselor to the president John Podesta—had a hand in molding domestic and international policies. Kerry’s role would be focused internationally.

Kerry’s stature and close relationship to Biden, with whom he served for decades in the Senate, ensures he would represent the US climate agenda in the highest diplomatic circles, including meetings with foreign leaders.

His appointment also affirms Biden’s commitment to climate change as a foreign policy issue, despite focusing on domestic aspects of his plan on the campaign trail.

“America will soon have a government that treats the climate crisis as the urgent national security threat it is,” Kerry said on Twitter yesterday.

The Biden transition team telegraphed that a domestic climate official with a similarly high profile would be announced in the coming weeks. And incoming White House chief of staff Ron Klain hinted as much in a Twitter post of his own yesterday.