John Kerry, the US climate envoy, to leave the Biden administration

John Kerry, the US special envoy for climate, will step down from the Biden administration in the coming weeks

WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — John Kerry, the U.S. special envoy for climate, will step down from the Biden administration in the coming weeks, according to two people familiar with his plans.

Kerry, a longtime senator and secretary of state, was tapped shortly after Joe Biden’s election in November 2020 to take on the new role created specifically to combat climate change on behalf of the administration on the world stage.

Kerry’s departure plans were first reported by Axios on Saturday.

Kerry was a key drafter of the 2015 Paris Climate Accords and served in that role with significant experience abroad, as Secretary of State during the Obama Administration and as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for nearly three decades. Biden’s decision to tap Kerry for the post was seen as a way for the new president to make good on his campaign promise to fight climate change in a more forceful and visible way than in previous administrations.

“The climate crisis is a universal threat to humanity and we all have a responsibility to deal with it as quickly as possible,” Kerry said during a visit to Beijing last summer, when he met Vice President Han Zheng on climate issues.

Kerry represented Massachusetts in the Senate for 28 years and was also the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004.

“John Kerry’s tireless work to make global progress against the climate crisis has been heroic,” former Vice President Al Gore, who has focused his post-public office life on climate, said in a statement on Saturday . “He has taken up this challenge. with bold vision, determination and the urgency this crisis demands. For that, the US and the whole world owe him a debt of gratitude.”