John Kerry, the US special envoy for climate, will leave the Biden administration in the coming weeks.
WASHINGTON– WASHINGTON (AP) — John Kerry, the U.S. special climate envoy, will leave the Biden administration in the coming weeks, according to two people familiar with his plans.
Kerry, a longtime senator and secretary of state, was tapped shortly after Joe Biden’s election in November 2020 to take on the new role created specifically to fight climate change on behalf of the administration on the global stage.
Kerry’s exit plans were first reported Saturday by Axios.
Kerry was a lead drafter of the 2015 Paris climate accords and came into office with significant experience abroad, as secretary of state during the Obama administration and for nearly three decades as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Biden’s decision to tap Kerry for office was seen as a way for the incoming president to fulfill his campaign promise to combat climate change in a more forceful and visible way than in previous administrations.
“The climate crisis is a universal threat to humanity and we all have a responsibility to address it as quickly as we can,” Kerry said on a visit to Beijing last summer, when he met with Vice President Han Zheng to discuss climate issues.
Kerry represented Massachusetts for 28 years in the Senate and was also the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004.
“John Kerry’s tireless work to make global progress on the climate crisis has been heroic,” former Vice President Al Gore, who has primarily focused on climate in his post-public office life, said in a statement Saturday. “He has approached this challenge with bold vision, resolute determination, and the urgency that this crisis demands. For this, the United States and the entire world owe him an enormous debt of gratitude.”