The United States climate envoy, John Kerry, will leave his position in the coming months to participate in President Joe Biden's election campaign, his office confirmed this Saturday. Kerry, 80, a former Democratic presidential candidate in 2004 and secretary of state in Barack Obama's administration, had informed the White House of his decision this week. So far it has not been announced who will be his replacement.
No specific date has yet been set for Kerry's departure, who plans to participate in the World Economic Forum in Davos (Switzerland) next week and the Munich Security Conference in February. His departure is expected to occur sometime before April.
The envoy's decision comes a month after he helped achieve a key agreement at COP 28, the UN climate change summit in Dubai last month, in which countries pledged to “leave behind” Fossil fuels, the main factor in global warming.
Whoever his replacement is, a tough battle is anticipated to obtain his confirmation in the Senate. As an envoy appointed by the White House in 2021, Kerry did not have to undergo that procedure in the Upper House, where the Republican minority has blocked key government appointments for months, including that of Julie Su, Biden's proposal to take charge. of the Department of Labor. But a modification in the law in 2022 now includes this position among those that must receive approval from senators to become effective.
At the forefront of US climate change policy, Kerry has left an important mark. The former Secretary of State has led his country's respective delegations to three UN climate summits. As head of Obama's foreign policy, in 2015 he had played an important role in the signing of the Paris agreements against climate change, which established goals for emissions cuts for the signatory countries.
During his presidential term (2017-2021), Donald Trump withdrew the United States from these agreements. Upon his arrival at the White House, Biden signed the return of the country, the second most polluting in the world, to the global pact. As climate envoy, Kerry took on a particularly complicated mission: conveying to the world the message that Washington wanted to once again be a protagonist in the fight against global warming.
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During his time in office, the former Secretary of State has also maintained harmony with Xie Zhenhua, his counterpart from China, the other country mainly responsible for carbon emissions and with whom he negotiated such thorny issues as whether developing countries should also reduce their emissions. In moments of crisis in the relationship between the two Governments, the two envoys maintained contacts. Kerry's visit to China in 2023, in the midst of the crisis between both countries due to the US downing of a Chinese hot air balloon, represented one of the key steps in the process for the normalization of ties between the two giants. Xie, 74, had also already announced his retirement for health reasons and will be replaced by Liu Zhenmin, former vice foreign minister.
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