Meghan L. O'Sullivan, Columnist

What Does Success Look Like for a Climate Czar?

A focus on decarbonization is overdue, but it needs to be balanced with national security, counterterrorism and democracy-promotion.

December 2, 2020 at 7:53 PM UTC

By Meghan L. O'Sullivan

Meghan L. O’Sullivan is a professor of international affairs at Harvard’s Kennedy School and the North American chair of the Trilateral Commission, she served on the National Security Council from 2004 to 2007.

The czar speaks.
Photographer: Mark Makela/Getty Images

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President-elect Joe Biden’s decision to create a new cabinet-level position for climate-related issues — and to choose so prominent a figure as former Secretary of State John Kerry to fill it — demonstrates Biden’s sincerity over putting climate at the very center of U.S. foreign policy. It is easy to understate the importance of this appointment, given the flurry of czars created by most new administrations.

However, if Kerry’s position works as intended, this could mark the beginning of a significant transformation of U.S. foreign policy. It won’t be easy: Such a shift goes against the grain of how foreign policy has traditionally been formulated and executed.