(Washington) John Kerry, the US special envoy for climate, will step down from the Biden administration in the coming weeks, according to two people familiar with his plans.
Mr. Kerry, a longtime senator and secretary of state, was tapped shortly after Joe Biden’s election in November 2020 to take on a new role created specifically to fight climate change on behalf of the administration on stage. worldwide.
Mr. Kerry’s departure plans were first reported on Saturday by the news website Axios.
Mr. Kerry was a lead drafter of the 2015 Paris climate accords and came to the position with significant foreign experience, serving as Secretary of State during the Obama administration and for nearly of three decades as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Mr. Biden’s decision to appoint Mr. Kerry to the post was seen as a way for the new president to fulfill his campaign promise to fight climate change more forcefully and more visibly than in previous administrations.
“The climate crisis is a universal threat to humanity and we all have a responsibility to address it as quickly as possible,” Mr. Kerry said during a visit to Beijing last summer, during his meeting with Vice President Han Zheng on climate issues.
Mr. Kerry represented Massachusetts for 28 years in the Senate and was also a Democratic presidential candidate in 2004.
“John Kerry’s tireless work to achieve global progress on the climate crisis has been heroic,” former Vice President Al Gore, who focused primarily on climate during his term, said in a statement Saturday. life after holding public office.
“He approached this challenge with bold vision, resolute determination and the urgency this crisis demands. For this, the United States and the entire world owe him immense gratitude. »