By Elishya Perera
WASHINGTON DC (CWBN)_US President-elect Joe Biden has named Former Secretary of State John Kerry as the special presidential envoy for climate.
According to a statement issued by Biden’s transition team yesterday (Nov 23), Kerry, a key architect of the Paris Accord, will be directly reporting to Biden as a member of the White House National Security Council (NSC).
The statement noted that this will be the first time an official dedicated to climate action will be a part of the NSC, and claimed that this reflects Biden’s intention to address climate change as a national security issue.
Kerry played a key role in negotiating the Paris Agreement in 2015, during President Barack Obama’s second term. However, President Donal Trump’s withdrew the United States from the Agreement, making the US the only country out of 200 signatories to abandon the deal.
Nevertheless, the Former Secretary of State is expected to lead the country’s re-entry to global climate politics, after Biden assumes duties in January. “The work we began with the Paris Agreement is far from done,” Kerry tweeted. “I’m returning to government to get America back on track to address the biggest challenge of this generation and those that will follow. The climate crisis demands nothing less than all hands-on deck.”
Kerry continued to be involved in climate action, following the end of the Obama administration as well.
In 2019, he launched World War Zero, a coalition between experts, celebrities and world leaders, aiming to hold more than ten million “climate conversations” in 2020.
Earlier this year, Kerry also co-chaired a climate task force set up by the Biden campaign, along with Democratic representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and actively participated in making policy recommendations for climate action.
Jason Bordoff, who served as senior director for energy and climate at the National Security Council under President Obama, pointed out that appointing someone of Kerry’s stature and inserting that role into the National Security Council “signals Biden’s understanding that climate change is a critical foreign policy issue for the US.”
The Biden campaign says that the COVID-19 pandemic has given the United States an opportunity to build a “more resilient and sustainable economy” which is expected to put the country “on an irreversible path” to achieve net-zero emissions by no later than 2050.
“I know that climate change is the challenge that’s going to define our American future — and I know meeting this challenge will be a once-in-a-century opportunity to jolt new life into our economy, strengthen our global leadership, and protect our planet for future generations,” Biden said.
The President-elect has promised to make far reaching investments in the infrastructure, automobile, transport, energy, buildings, housing, innovation and agricultural sectors, in a manner which lays the foundation for sustainable development to withstand climate change, and has also made a commitment to ensure environmental justice being the key consideration in “where, how, and with whom we build”.
