Joe Biden appoints climate team, says 'we're in a crisis'
December 20, 2020
President-elect Biden vowed to make combating climate change central to rebuilding the pandemic-hit US economy. He also stressed the diversity of his climate appointees, describing them as "brilliant, qualified, tested."
Joe Biden has promised the US will rejoin the Paris climate accord once he takes officeImage: Patrick Semansky/AP Photo/picture alliance
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US President-elect Joe Biden has announced key members of his environmental team, saying that his administration would make a unified response to climate change a priority.
"Folks, we're in a crisis," Biden said at an event in Wilmington, Delaware. "We literally have no time to waste … Just like we need to be a unified nation to respond to COVID-19, we need a unified national response to climate change."
The nominees, he said, will "lead my administration's ambitious plan to address an existential threat of our time — climate change."
Biden has vowed to reverse many of the current Trump administration's initiatives that boosted oil and gas production and rolled back regulations intended to protect the environment.
The incoming president's decision to appoint an environmental team is in sharp contrast to the incumbent.
Who is on the team?
Representative Deb Haaland of New Mexico has been picked to lead the Interior Department, which oversees the US's natural resources that include national parks and wildlife refuges. The department has also wielded influence over the nation's tribes for generations.
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If confirmed by the Senate, she would be the first Native American to hold a cabinet position.
Jennifer Granholm, former Governor of Michigan, has been tapped to be the next energy secretary. Since stepping down as governor, she has often spoken about the need to boldly rethink energy policy in light of climate change.
Michael Regan, North Carolina's top environmental regulator, has been nominated to run the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Regan made a name for himself by pursuing cleanups of industrial toxins and helping low-income and minority communities significantly affected by pollution.
If confirmed, he would be the first Black American to run the agency.
Brenda Mallory, an environmental attorney, will be Biden's nominee to direct the Council on Environmental Quality. The office oversees environmental reviews for virtually all major infrastructure projects and advises the president on major environmental issues.
If confirmed, she too would be the first Black American to hold the position since it was created more than half a century ago.
Gina McCarthy, the EPA administrator during fromer US President Barack Obama's second term, will lead a new White House Office of Climate Policy, and serve as national climate adviser.
Her position would not need Senate confirmation.
Who are Joe Biden's presidential Cabinet picks?
President-elect Joe Biden has begun announcing Cabinet positions as he prepares to take over the White House. Most picks thus far served under President Barack Obama. The US Senate must confirm most of these nominees.
Image: Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Antony Blinken, Secretary of State
Blinken is a longtime confidant of President-elect Joe Biden. He's served under two Democratic presidents as well as a key aide on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He also served as a deputy national security adviser and deputy secretary of state in the second Obama administration, when Biden was vice president.
Image: Mike Coppola/Getty Images
General Lloyd Austin, Defense Secretary
Austin was a controversial pick — his long career as a military officer requires a Congressional waiver before he can be confirmed. Austin held a series of prominent roles in the US Army and worked with Obama during the US withdrawal from Iraq. If successful, he would be the first Black Pentagon chief.
Image: Yasser Al-Zayyat/AFP/Getty Images
Janet Yellen, Treasury Secretary
Biden's nominee for the top position — the first woman ever if confirmed — goes some way towards fulfilling his promise to select a diverse cabinet. Yellen served on the policymaking committee of the Federal Reserve during the 2008 financial crisis and advised Bill Clinton. She would be taking the reigns during one of the worst economic crises in US history.
Image: Christopher Aluka Berry/REUTERS
Ron Klain, Chief of Staff
A veteran of Washington DC, Klain was an early pick for Biden. As White House chief of staff, he will work closely with the president, setting his agenda and coordinating the levers of power. Klain worked with Biden before when he was vice president as well as serving directly under former President Barack Obama as the Ebola Czar.
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Xavier Becerra, Health Secretary
The California Attorney General was picked to head up the health department under Biden's incoming cabinet during a global health crisis that has hit the US particularly hard. Becerra also helped in passing the Affordable Care Act when he sat in Congress. If confirmed by the Senate, he would be the first Latino appointed to the role.
Image: David Crane/ZUMAPRESS.com/picture alliance
John Kerry, climate change envoy
The former secretary of state will become Biden's special presidential envoy for climate. Kerry served as a senator from Massachusetts from 1983 to 2013 before taking the top foreign policy role in the second Obama administration. Kerry signed the Paris Climate Agreement for the United States in 2015 — Donald Trump pulled the US out of the accord two years later.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. Pedersen
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US ambassador to the UN
Thomas-Greenfield served in high-level State Department positions under Obama from 2013 to 2017. She led US policy in sub-Saharan African during the Ebola outbreak. Biden plans to restore the UN ambassador role to a White House Cabinet position.
Image: DW/S. Broll
Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security
The Cuban-American headed Citizenship and Immigration Services under Obama. He led the implementation of the DACA program that allowed so-called Dreamers, who were brought to the US illegally as children, to stay in the country. If confirmed, he would become the first immigrant and Hispanic to head the Department of Homeland Security.
Image: Thilo Rückeis/picture-alliance
Jake Sullivan, National Security Adviser
Sullivan served as Biden's national security adviser from 2013 to 2014 while he was vice president. He also served as Hillary Clinton's deputy when she was Secretary of State. He later served as her chief foreign policy adviser during her unsuccessful presidential bid in 2016.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo
Avril Haines, Director of National Intelligence
Haines was the first woman to serve as deputy director of the CIA, a role she held from 2013 to 2015. She succeeded Antony Blinken as deputy national security adviser when he moved over to the state department in 2015. If confirmed, she would be the first woman to head the US intelligence community.
