WASHINGTON: After serving as President Joe Biden’s special envoy on climate change for three years, former US senator and secretary of state John Kerry will step down but will still support Biden’s reelection.
Kerry, 80, made the decision one month after he was a key player in mediating a global accord that called for countries to move away from fossil fuels and was unveiled in Dubai.
After speaking with Biden on Wednesday, he told his staff about his decision on Saturday, one of the people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on condition of anonymity. The administration has made no choices regarding who may be nominated to replace Kerry, the source said.
Kerry would step down from the role later this winter, according to the sources.
Kerry assisted in mediating the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, which committed countries to taking action against climate change, while serving as secretary of state under Democratic former President Barack Obama.
Kerry was his party’s 2004 presidential nominee and a former Democratic senator from Massachusetts; he was defeated by Republican President George W. Bush.
One of the first senior officials that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden hired after winning the 2020 contest was Kerry, a longtime supporter of climate change problems.
Following the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, Republican former President Donald Trump put President Biden, who is running for reelection in November, under pressure to get the United States back involved in international climate negotiations.
Kerry is the first person on the White House National Security Council to be specifically focused on climate issues. As special envoy on climate change, he was appointed without the US Senate’s approval.
Kerry stated he had not decided on his future plans but that he would not give up on climate activism in a December interview with Reuters following COP28.
Regarding climate advocacy, Kerry remarked, “I will continue as long as God gives me the breath and work on it one way or the other.”
Maintaining strong diplomatic ties with China on climate change had been one of Kerry’s key priorities as Biden’s special envoy, even while many other political and trade problems simmered.
Through their bilateral agreements, Kerry and his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua played a key role in persuading nearly 200 countries to sign the Paris Agreement and the UAE Consensus.
The two discussed some of the most difficult problems, like whether or not developing nations should bear the burden of cutting emissions and how nations can pledge to abandon the use of fossil fuels.
Following Xie, 74,’s resignation for health-related reasons, China said on Friday that it had appointed Liu Zhenmin, a former vice foreign minister, as its new special envoy for climate change.
