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- Former Secretary of State John Kerry will return to government in a new role tackling climate change, President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team announced Monday.
- Kerry will serve on the National Security Council as the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate.
- His position would be the first on the NSC dedicated to climate change.
- “America will soon have a government that treats the climate crisis as the urgent national security threat it is,” Kerry tweeted shortly after the announcement.
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President-elect Joe Biden named former Secretary of State John Kerry to a new position on the National Security Council focused on climate change, the Biden transition team announced Monday.
“John Kerry will fight climate change full-time as Special Presidential Envoy for Climate and will sit on the NSC,” the Biden transition team said in a news release. “This marks the first time that the NSC will include an official dedicated to climate change.”
By sitting on the NSC, Kerry will not need Senate confirmation.
Kerry tweeted a statement shortly after the announcement was made, saying in part: “America will soon have a government that treats the climate crisis as the urgent national security threat it is.
—John Kerry (@JohnKerry) November 23, 2020
Kerry, 76, served as former President Barack Obama’s Secretary of State from 2013 to 2017. During that time, he spearheaded the United States’ participation in the Paris Climate Accords.
Over the summer, Kerry partnered with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, to lead the Biden campaign's climate coalition. He also threw his support behind a new financial product that tracks the market for carbon units.
This story is developing. Check back for updates.