Special climate envoy John Kerry is actively considering leaving the Biden administration after next month’s COP27 summit, soliciting advice from friends and colleagues on how to stay involved in climate efforts from the private sector, according to people familiar with the matter.
President Biden has relied on Kerry, a former secretary of state, long-time senator and the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, to corral more multilateral buy-in for emissions cuts and keep climate on the radar despite economic headwinds and the Russia crisis.
- He was in the thick of COP26 negotiations in Glasgow last November that produced, for the first time, an explicit pledge to move away from coal and fossil fuel subsidies.
- But with the U.S. and China staring each other down on both trade and security issues, the prospects for further joint action with Beijing on climate have diminished.
- Kerry hasn’t made a final decision and could decide to remain in his role. “I can’t stress enough: Secretary Kerry has no plans to depart, and his sole focus is COP27, period, and anything else is baseless speculation,” said Kerry spokesperson Whitney Smith.
Kerry has been outlining his ambitions, as well as his concerns, for COP27 in Egypt, which could be his last international climate summit.
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And, of course, Kerry and the rest of the ‘climateers’ will burn up how many gallons of fossil fuel to get to the COP 27 conference.