With John Kerry Pick, Biden Selects a ‘Climate Envoy’ With Stature

When John Kerry served as President Barack Obama’s secretary of state, he helped steer the negotiation of the Paris Agreement, locking down commitments from nearly 200 nations — including his own — to begin to reverse the dangerous warming of the planet. Now his diplomatic task may be even tougher. On Monday, president-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. said he intended to name Mr. Kerry his special presidential envoy for climate, a cabinet-level position in the new administration. In that role, Mr. Kerry will need to persuade skeptical global leaders, burned by the Trump administration’s hostility toward climate science, that the United States is prepared to resume its leadership role — and will stay the course, regardless of the Biden administration’s future. Those who know him best say Mr. Kerry is well suited to the role. He has been advocating for action on climate change since he attended the first Rio Earth Summit in 1992, where the framework of United Nations climate talks was formed. He also knows the struggle of persuading his own country to take action, having co-authored climate change legislation as a Massachusetts senator that ultimately failed. Then, after joining the Obama administration, he made climate change a core part of the State Department. The appointment of Mr. Kerry to sit on the National Security Council as a climate envoy elevates the issue of climate change to the highest echelons of government and marks it as an urgent national security threat. “America will soon have a government that treats the climate crisis as the urgent national security threat that it is,” Mr. Kerry said in a statement. In naming Mr. Kerry Mr. Biden has tapped the biggest name in his government so far, a veteran politician adept at drawing attention to himself and his causes since he led opposition to the Vietnam War as a decorated young veteran. “John Kerry brings unmatched stature, a record of being an effective, tireless and indefatigable negotiator, a record of profound commitment to this issue and an understanding of just what the speed and scale of the transformation needs to be,” said Todd S. Stern, who served as the State Department’s climate envoy under Mr. Obama. Image...MORE