John Kerry in Biden Cabinet members actions and issues
On Energy & Oil:
Avoid Senate votes on voluntary emissions reductions
In Paris in 2015, Kerry insisted on a structure of voluntary emissions reductions commitments, because he knew a formal treaty would never be ratified by the Senate--just as the 1997 Kyoto Protocol was never ratified by the United States.
In both cases, US diplomats were hamstrung by the knowledge that the US Senate wouldn't approve a treaty with legally binding commitments.
Source: Sierra Club press release on Biden Cabinet
Dec 16, 2020
On Foreign Policy:
Co-founded US-China Climate Change Working Group
As secretary of state under Barack Obama, it was Kerry who founded the US-China Climate Change Working Group with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi, and who helped broker negotiations with Beijing that ultimately paved the way for the
Paris Agreement, which Trump abruptly withdrew from in 2017. The prospect of a return to a joint effort by the world's top two polluters to combat the climate crisis has set off alarm bells among some political circles in the US.
Source: South China Morning Post on Biden Cabinet
Dec 12, 2020
On Energy & Oil:
Net carbon neutral by 2050; must lay out path to get there
John Kerry wants to strengthen the Paris climate accord, which he helped write, suggesting a pivot for U.S. policy when he becomes the nation's climate czar. "It has to be stronger," Kerry told NBC, stressing that the multinational deal
was always intended to be a first step. "I'm confident we can get there," he said. "The issue is, are we going to get there in time? And that's our race. This is our moonshot."
Kerry said he wants companies to be net carbon neutral by 2050 and implement measurements to track their progress. "We have to lay out a pathway,"
he said. "We have to show people what countries are going to do between 2025, 2030, 2035. You can't just put a target 40 years out or 30 years out and pretend that we have done the deal."
Source: NBC News on Biden Cabinet, "Paris climate accord"
Dec 9, 2020
On Government Reform:
Won't overstep climate role with State Department
Even though he once ran the department, Kerry does not think that he'll step on any toes at the Department of State. Some career State Department officials have raised concerns that other world leaders will try to circumvent Blinken by going to
Kerry, a worry he dismisses. "I really respect and understand the lines that are drawn within the State Department and the administration," he said. "Tony Blinken is going to be a terrific secretary."
Source: NBC News on Biden Cabinet, "Paris climate accord"
Dec 9, 2020
On Principles & Values:
OpEd: Supports "Great Reset" for social & economic issues
Kerry argued that the Great Reset is necessary to slow the "climate crisis" and that "I know Joe Biden believes it's not enough just to rejoin Paris [the Paris Climate Accords]. It's not enough for us to just do the minimum of what Paris requires."
Kerry also said that because of the Great Reset movement, he believes "we're at the dawn of an extremely exciting time" and that "the greatest opportunity we have" to address social and economic problems is "dealing with the climate crisis."
According to the Great Reset's supporters, the plan would fundamentally transform much of society. As the World Economic Forum (WEF) head wrote, "the world must act jointly and swiftly to revamp all aspects of our societies and economies,
from education to social contracts and working conditions. Every country, from the United States to China, must participate, and every industry, from oil and gas to tech, must be transformed. In short, we need a 'Great Reset' of capitalism."
Source: The Hill e-zine on 2021 Biden Cabinet
Dec 3, 2020
On Energy & Oil:
Secured agreement to phase down use of super-pollutant HFC
In November 2016, then Secretary of State John Kerry held court in a hotel room in Kigali, Rwanda, to help secure one of the most important and little-known international climate agreements in history. The agreement, known as the
Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, has now begun to phase down the use of hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants, climate super-pollutants that would otherwise have caused as much as 0.5 degrees Celsius of additional global warming by 2050.
Source: InsideClimateNews.org on Biden Cabinet
Nov 25, 2020
On Energy & Oil:
First on National Security Council to work on climate change
John Kerry, one of the leading architects of the Paris climate agreement, is getting one more chance to lead the fight against climate change after President-elect Joe Biden named the longtime senator and former secretary of state
as climate envoy for national security. It will be a prominent role, with Kerry becoming the first member of the National Security Council to focus exclusively on climate change.
Source: Associated Press on 2021 Biden Cabinet
Nov 23, 2020
On Energy & Oil:
Advised fund setting global price for carbon emissions
Now the former Massachusetts senator and US secretary of state is taking the battle to Wall Street. Kerry has become an investor in and adviser to a fund launched over the summer on the New York Stock Exchange that is attempting to
set a global price for carbon emissions. Economists have long believed that if the actual cost of pollution can be established, it will incentivize the market to manage climate risk and fund innovation to reduce global warming.
Source: Boston Globe on 2021 Biden Cabinet
Sep 20, 2020
On Immigration:
Committed to increasing number of refugees that we take
As European countries cope with a wave of people fleeing conflict in the Middle East and Africa, Secretary of State John Kerry said the State Department will lift the overall number refugees it aims to resettle in the upcoming year. The department
currently resettles 70,000 people from around the globe. "We are committed to increasing the number of refugees that we take, and we are looking hard at the number that we can specifically manage with respect to the crisis in Syria and Europe."
Source: Buzzfeed blog on Biden Cabinet
Sep 9, 2015
Page last updated: May 20, 2021