John Kerry, the U.S. climate envoy who plays a key role in the U.S. government's fight against climate change, will resign from his post to join President Joe Biden's re-election campaign, the American reported on Saturday January 13th Media. According to the New York Times, the 80-year-old Mr. Kerry's resignation is expected to take effect in the spring.
Since 2021, the former Secretary of State and Democratic Senator has been reaching out to other countries to secure commitments in the fight against climate change, particularly during the recent United Nations climate summit, COP28, held in Dubai.
According to several American media outlets, citing officials familiar with the matter, John Kerry intends to participate in Joe Biden's campaign by publicizing the president's work in the fight against global warming. He informed the president of his intention to leave the country on Wednesday and his team learned of his decision on Saturday, this media reported.
Read the interview with the article reserved for our subscribers John Kerry: On climate “the United States must lead by example”
Effective cooperation with China
The former secretary of state led the American delegation to three United Nations climate summits, but also worked effectively with China despite complicated diplomatic relations.
In a rare show of unity, the United States and China, which alone are responsible for 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions, sealed a historic, if watered down, agreement at COP28 in December aimed at starting to phase out oil, gas and Coal is starting to be the culprit of the global climate crisis.
Mr. Kerry had hosted his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua a month earlier in California, where the two countries agreed on the broad outlines of climate action that served in part as the basis for the Dubai agreement involving nearly 200 countries. The news of John Kerry's resignation comes a day after the announcement of Xie Zhenhua's resignation.
Also read: Article reserved for our subscribers. At COP28, John Kerry defends a phase-out of fossils, but under conditions