US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry is stepping down from the administration of US President Joe Biden in the coming weeks, two people familiar with his plans said.
Kerry, a former US senator and former US secretary of state, was tapped shortly after Biden’s November 2020 election to take on the new role created specifically to fight climate change on behalf of the administration on the global stage.
Kerry’s departure plans were first reported on Saturday by Axios.
Photo: AFP
Kerry was one of the leading drafters of the 2015 Paris climate agreement and came into the role with significant experience abroad, as secretary of state during the administration of former US president Barack Obama and from nearly three decades as a member of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Biden’s decision to tap Kerry for the post was seen as one way the incoming president was making good on his campaign pledge to battle climate change in a more forceful and visible manner than in previous administrations.
“The climate crisis is a universal threat to humankind and we all have a responsibility to deal with it as rapidly as we can,” Kerry said in a visit to Beijing last summer, when he met with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng (韓正) on climate matters.
At international climate summits, Kerry always kept a breakneck pace, going from one meeting to another, with world leaders, major business figures and scientists, all interspersed with one press conference after another — to share what he just learned, announce an initiative, or say a few words as civil groups announced their own plans to help combat climate change, thus lending his credibility and weight.
In the span of an hour, at one meeting Kerry would talk in detail about the need for oil companies to drastically reduce methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, then go to another gathering and detail his latest idea to help pay for green energy transition in developing countries and then, some minutes later, go into a long explanation of illegal fishing worldwide while attending an event with leaders of Pacific Island nations.
“John Kerry’s tireless work to deliver global progress on the climate crisis has been heroic,” former US vice president Al Gore, who has focused primarily on climate in his post-public office life, said in a statement on Saturday. “He has approached this challenge with bold vision, resolute determination, and the urgency that this crisis demands. For that the U.S. and the whole world owe him a huge debt of gratitude.”
While his gravitas has made him a central climate figure around the world, Kerry also has strong critics who argue US’ climate policies do not amount to leadership in fighting global warming. The Inflation Reduction Act, the largest climate law in US history, is pumping billions of dollars into renewable energies. However, many facets of the law emphasize domestic production, thus leading other nations to complain that the law is protectionist and detrimental to their own green industries.
For years, the US opposed the creation of a “loss and damage” fund that would see rich nations contribute billions of dollars to help developing countries, often hit hard by extreme weather events driven by climate change. During COP27 in Egypt in 2022, the fund was approved, as the US and other rich countries relented and supported it.
However, Kerry is always quick to say the fund is not about “reparations” or “compensation,” and so far the US has promised only modest funding for it.
Kerry represented Massachusetts for 28 years in the US Senate and was also the Democratic US presidential nominee in 2004.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
DENIAL: Musk said that the ‘New York Times was lying their ass off,’ after it reported he used so much drugs that he developed bladder problems Elon Musk on Saturday denied a report that he used ketamine and other drugs extensively last year on the US presidential campaign trail. The New York Times on Friday reported that the billionaire adviser to US President Donald Trump used so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that he developed bladder problems. The newspaper said the world’s richest person also took ecstasy and mushrooms, and traveled with a pill box last year, adding that it was not known whether Musk also took drugs while heading the so-called US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after Trump took power in January. In a
RSS