- President-elect Joe Biden formally introduced his climate team at a press conference on Saturday.
- The team is full of pro-climate heavyweights and a number of firsts, including Michael Regan, who, upon confirmation, would be the first black man to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.
- Biden has said he plans to make climate change a top priority, although his agenda will face major challenges in a divided government.
- Visit the Business Insider homepage for more stories.
President-elect Joe Biden on Saturday introduced what he called a “barrier-breaking” climate and energy team, pledging to create millions of union jobs and re-position the US as a leader in the global fight against climate change.
“We have no time to waste,” Biden said at a news conference in Wilmington, Delaware. “Just as we need a united nation to respond to COVID-19, we need a unified national response to climate change.”
That response will be spearheaded by a team of pro-climate heavyweights with some firsts.
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Meet the Biden climate A team
One of Biden’s top picks is Gina McCarthy, who headed the Environmental Protection Agency under former President Barack Obama. She will lead a new office in the White House that focuses on climate policy.
There she can reach beyond cabinets to develop a unified domestic strategy.
“Defeating this threat is the battle of our lives,” McCarthy, who is currently the CEO of the Natural Resources Dense Council, an environmental nonprofit, said at the briefing. “But the chances of responding to climate change right now give me incredible optimism.”
She will work with former Secretary of State John Kerry, who turned to Biden to be his international climate czar. Ali Zaidi, currently Deputy Secretary for Energy and Environment for New York State, will be McCarthy’s deputy.
Gina McCarthy, former head of the Natural Resources Defense Council, will serve as Biden’s national climate crescent. Photo by Kim Raff / Getty Images for NRDC
Biden also introduced former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm as his choice of Energy Secretary, and North Carolina environmental regulator Michael Regan, whom he nominated to lead the EPA – the office most central to his climate change agenda.
If confirmed, Regan would be the first black man to run the EPA.
There are other firsts too.
During the briefing, Biden Rep. Deb Haaland from New Mexico, whom he nominated to head the Interior Department. If confirmed by the Senate, she will be the first Native American to lead the department – and the first to direct a cabinet-level agency – overseeing approximately 500 million acres of public land. Haaland was a co-sponsor of the Green New Deal.
Biden also appointed longtime environmental attorney Brenda Mallory chair of the Council on Environmental Quality. If confirmed, she would be the first black person to take the role.
Former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm is Joe Biden’s energy secretary of choice. Michael Brochstein / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images
A monumental challenge ahead
“There are so many climate and health disasters coming together at the same time,” Biden said during the briefing.
Americans are facing not only a pandemic, he said, but symptoms of climate change, such as super storms, wildfires and floods. His solution is to reduce emissions to zero by 2050 – by rolling out electric cars, adding more renewable energy to the grid and improving the efficiency of buildings – while creating well-paid jobs.
To be clear, that is an ambitious task, and one that will prove even more challenging if the government remains divided. Experts say the government is likely to focus its efforts initially on undoing many of Trump’s rollbacks, largely through executive orders.
“The current administration has reversed Obama-Biden’s fuel efficiency standards and has chosen major oil companies over American workers,” Biden said. “Our administration will not only bring those standards back. We will set new ambitious standards.”