- The US President-elect on Saturday announced nominees for essential energy and climate posts
- Biden also announced an ambitious plant to curb emissions and increase clean energy investments.
US President-elect Joe Biden has announced nominees for critical energy and climate posts for his incoming cabinet on January 20. The nominees include Rep. Deb Haaland for interior secretary and former Governor of Michigan Jennifer Granholm as Energy Secretary. Also nominated were Michael Regan to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. Biden also nominated Brenda Mallory, an environmental lawyer, to chair the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Gina McCarthy, a former head of the EPA, will be a national climate adviser, while Ali Zaidi, a climate expert, will serve as the deputy national climate adviser.
The former Vice President says the team will bust barriers and that the nominations indicate the seriousness with which his administration will tackle climate change. At the nominating address in Wilmington Delaware, the president Elect reiterated the seriousness of the climate crisis stating that “just like we need to be a unified nation in response to Covid-19, we need a unified national response to climate change”. “We need to meet the moment with the urgency it demands as we would during any national emergency,” he remarked.
Biden also presented his climate plan which seeks to end power plant carbon emissions by 2035 and the increase in public investment in green infrastructure; a $2 trillion for clean energy projects. He also made mention of the need to create jobs, modernise America’s water, transportation and energy infrastructures, increased adoption of electric vehicles, and decreasing national carbon emissions.