John Kerry, the U.S. Special Climate Ambassador, has nominated Rick Duke, one of his senior advisors – who was the architect of an international agreement last year to reduce greenhouse gas methane emissions – as his deputy.
Kerry told Reuters that Duke will be a leader in implementing U.S. pledges under the Glasgow Climate Pact. Kerry also encouraged other governments and countries to adopt emission reduction targets by 2030 that are compatible with the goal of keeping global temperature rise below 1.5 C. Kerry stated this in a statement.
Duke was previously a special advisor on climate change to former President Barack Obama. He also served as a Brookings Institution fellow. He will be joining Sue Biniaz, the deputy special envoy for climate change, to lead U.S. climate policy in 2022. This will replace Jonathan Pershing who resigned last month. As Kerry’s advisor, Duke played a lead role in forming last year’s Global Methane Pledge https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/us-eu-make-diplomatic-push-cut-planet-warming-methane-emissions-documents-2021-09-14 with the European Union, a voluntary global partnership aimed at slashing emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane 30% by 2030 from 2020 levels. More than 100 countries have joined.
He also contributed to the U.S. climate strategy for halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, as part of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement. Pershing also led U.S. efforts in signing the Kigali Amendment (the Montreal Protocol) to tackle hydrofluorocarbons. These are ozone depleting substances that are used in refrigeration. Pershing will be returning to his previous position as California’s Hewlett Foundation climate programs manager. According to Pershing, he only intended to stay at State Department for one year.
(This story was not edited by Devdiscourse staff. It is generated automatically from a syndicated feed.
