Biden Chooses John Podesta to Replace Kerry as New Global Climate Representative

The White House has confirmed President Joe Biden’s selection of clean energy adviser John Podesta to succeed John Kerry as the president’s senior advisor for international climate policy.

Podesta, 75, is currently in charge of a team implementing Biden’s landmark climate bill, the Inflation Reduction Act. He formerly served as an adviser to Barack Obama and as Bill Clinton’s chief of staff, reported Reuters.

Earlier this year, Kerry — former secretary of state and senator from Massachusetts — announced he was stepping down in order to help with Biden’s reelection campaign.

“President Biden’s appointment of John Podesta to continue to lead our global climate efforts demonstrates the President’s steadfast commitment to tackling the climate crisis – and reflects his belief that we have not a moment to lose,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in a press release from the White House. “John’s efforts and experience will be critical as countries around the world develop their next round of enhanced emissions targets, which are due early next year, as well as work to build out the global clean energy supply chains necessary for achieving our shared climate goals.”

^{President Joe Biden talks with John Podesta, senior advisor for clean energy innovation, aboard Air Force One on July 6, 2023, en route to a solar technology company in West Columbia, South Carolina as part of his “Investing in America” tour. Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz}

Podesta’s relationships with climate diplomats in China, as well as his decades of political experience, will be beneficial in the new role.

“Secretary Kerry has put the U.S. back in leadership on climate around the world,” Podesta told the Washington Post. “And we’ll ensure that we keep up the momentum that has been built up through his efforts.”

Podesta was a key figure — along with former climate envoys Todd Stern and Kerry — in negotiating the first U.S.-China bilateral climate change accord in 2014, Reuters reported. The deal has been credited with laying the foundations for the Paris Agreement the following year.

“In three years, Secretary Kerry has tirelessly trekked around the world, bringing American climate leadership back from the brink and marshaling countries around the world to take historic action to confront the climate crisis,” said Jeffrey Zients, current White House chief of staff, in a statement, as reported by The New York Times. “We need to keep meeting the gravity of this moment, and there is no one better than John Podesta to make sure we do.”

Environmental groups applauded the decision to appoint Podesta.

“John Podesta is uniquely qualified to lead the nation’s climate diplomacy in this critical moment,” said Manish Bapna, president and CEO of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), in a press release from NRDC. “The climate crisis lies at the root of cascading disasters inflicting rising costs and mounting dangers across every corner of the world. It’s a humanitarian crisis, an economic crisis, a security crisis. It’s a crisis of global injustice. John Podesta has the skills, knowledge and dedication to tackle these intersecting crises with the urgency they demand.”

Jean Su, energy justice director with the Center for Biological Diversity, emphasized the immediate need for action to stop the fossil fuel-driven climate crisis.

“Podesta needs to take the baton from Kerry and lead the U.S. on a furious sprint to end oil and gas expansion while we still have time to prevent the worst climate catastrophes,” Su said, as Reuters reported.