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“This is the first time that the NSC will include a dedicated climate change official, reflecting the president-elect’s commitment to addressing climate change as an urgent national security issue,” Biden’s transition team said in a statement.
The elevation of the issue during Kerry’s appointment foresees a shift in policy and approach from the current President’s repeated denial of the scientific reality of the crisis and the systematic return of environmental policies.
“It will be an honor to work with our allies and partners, alongside emerging young leaders of the climate movement, to tackle the climate crisis with the seriousness and urgency it deserves,” Kerry wrote in a tweet.
The energy around the issue of the climate crisis has intensified in a short time. When Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, during his first presidential campaign in 2016, called climate change the most significant national security crisis, he was pilloried as not being serious about foreign policy. Five years later, the White House will have a special climate envoy with a seat at National Security Council meetings.
In 2019, Kerry co-founded a bipartisan initiative of world leaders and celebrities to tackle the climate crisis called World War Zero. Following the Democratic primary, he served as co-chair of the Biden-Sanders Unity Working Group focused on producing climate policy recommendations, with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.
The co-founder and executive director of a leading progressive climate group, Sunrise Movement, congratulated Kerry on her appointment and said the creation of the role was an “encouraging sign”. Varshini Prakash, who served alongside Kerry in the Unity Task Force, described him as “determined to engage and listen to young voices – although we don’t always agree – and to make sure we have a seat at the table.
But Prakash said the single role was “not enough” and that Biden’s White House “must also include a national counterpart reporting directly to the president to head a climate mobilization office.”
The president-elect is expected to have a White House climate director working on national issues who will be on a par with Kerry, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to CNN.
Kerry served alongside Biden in the Senate for decades. He was first elected to the Senate to represent Massachusetts in 1984 after serving as lieutenant governor of the state under Governor Michael Dukakis.
In 2004, Kerry won the Democratic presidential nomination before losing the general election to incumbent President George W. Bush. In 2009, when Biden became vice president, Kerry returned to his role as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was appointed Secretary of State by Obama in 2012.
Kerry served in the Navy in Vietnam as a gunboat officer on the Mekong Delta and was awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star and Three Purple Hearts.
CNN’s Arlette Saenz and Greg Krieg contributed to this report.
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