'Time to restore American leadership': Biden names John Kerry as special climate envoy

US President-elect Joe Biden on November 23 appointed John Kerry, who is the former US secretary of state and Democratic presidential nominee, as his special presidential envoy for the climate. Kerry will be a Cabinet-level official in Biden’s administration and will sit on the National Security Council. Biden’s transition team said that Kerry would “fight climate change full time” in the role. They added that this elevation shows that the president-elect sees the climate crisis as an “urgent national security issue”. 

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Following his appointment, Kerry tweeted that the United States will soon have a government that treats the climate crisis as an urgent national security threat. The former Massachusetts senator also added that he will work with President-elect Joe Biden, US allies and the climate movement to address the crisis of global heating. 

Under the Obama administration, Kerry had played a prominent role in the international effort to craft the Paris Climate Agreement, which commits countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to avoid disastrous storms, heatwaves, flooding and other looming environmental threats. In the past years, the former secretary of state has been critical of Donald Trump’s dismantling of climate policies and the decision to remove the US from the Paris agreement. Kerry was also a part of the climate task force the Biden campaign used to develop its carbon-cutting policies. 

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Environmentalists welcome Kerry’s appointment 

The latest appointment is seen as an encouraging signal and it has also been warmly welcomed by environmentalists. Varshini Prakash, the executive director of the Sunrise Movement climate group, called the appointment a “very good move” and said that Kerry combined a long track record on climate issues with a commitment to “engaging and listening to young voices”. Brett Hartl, who is a government affairs director for the Center for Biological Diversity environmental advocacy group, also welcomed Biden administration’s move on Kerry. 

However, Hartl said that it is important somewhere in Biden’s administration, particularly in climate, to see “not just the same people and actors we have seen before on these issues”. Hartl also added that because Trump spent four years boosting fossil fuels and blocking solutions, the new administration must prove its commitment to drawing down fossil fuels and treating the crisis with the life-and-death urgency that it deserves. 

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