John Kerry’s climate office is plagued with ties to far-left environmental groups

The office of Special Presidential Climate Envoy (SPEC) John Kerry is filled with officials who have previously held senior positions in various global green energy institutions.

Kerry’s office has picked up people who have held leadership positions in groups such as the United Nations Foundation, World Resources Institute, International Monetary Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council and several other large organizations. global or green, according to a Fox News Digital review. The organizations have widely called global warming a « climate crisis » and pushed for a rapid global transition away from reliance on fossil fuels.

« It’s not surprising – it’s basically the same old gang, » Myron Ebell, director of the Center for Energy and the Environment at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told Fox News Digital in an interview. « These are the people who have been working and failing on these issues for decades. »

« This gang is the climate aristocracy, you could call them, » said Ebell, who led the Trump administration’s 2016 transition team on energy and environmental issues.

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Experts have argued that rushing away from fossil fuels will lead to higher prices and a greater likelihood of outages during times of high electricity demand. Federal watchdog North American Electric Reliability Corporation noted in a recent report that the majority of the United States faces an increased risk of blackouts, in part due to policies forcing a green transition too quickly.

Kerry’s office, which is housed at the State Department and has an estimated annual budget of $13.9 million with the endorsement of 45 people, has been tight-lipped about the officials it has hired to fill the key vacancies, but a Fox News digital review of the public Leadership Connect and LinkedIn profiles revealed the identities of some of the top staff and their previous work experience.

The SPEC office declined to comment when asked about its hiring process.

At least three current or former officials hired by SPEC – Leonardo Martinez-Diaz, Senior Director of Climate Finance; Giulia Christianson, Senior Advisor; and Christina Chan, the former senior adaptation adviser – previously worked at the World Resources Institute (WRI), a global climate research group that sees achieving a zero-carbon transition as one of its top priorities.

“The planet is already experiencing unprecedented fires, droughts, floods and other extreme weather events,” the WRI website says. « These threats will only intensify as the world continues to warm. The effects of climate change will take the heaviest toll on poor and otherwise marginalized communities. »

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The WRI also states that « most countries, businesses, states and cities » are failing to make the « societal changes » needed to address climate change.

Martinez-Diaz served as Global Director of the WRI Sustainable Finance Center, leading “engagement with governments, development finance organizations, and private financial institutions to rapidly accelerate the shift to sustainable finance” from 2017 to 2021, when which he was hired by Kerry. Christianson was WRI’s director of sustainable private sector finance between 2011 and 2021 and Chan led the group’s climate resilience practice from 2017 to 2021.

Additionally, Christianson worked as a project officer and researcher at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) between 2004 and 2009. She left the group for about 14 months during that time before returning in 2008.

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« Climate change poses a major threat to long-term growth and prosperity, and it has a direct impact on the economic well-being of all countries, » the IMF’s website says. « The Fund publishes research on the economic implications of climate change and provides policy advice to our members to help them seize opportunities for low-carbon, resilient growth. »

Kerry speaks at the COP26 climate change conference in 2021. Kerry has been tasked with overseeing and shaping US global climate policy and negotiations. (Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images)
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Kerry’s top deputies in the office have also held high-level positions in similar organizations.

Sue Biniaz has been hired to be SPEC’s deputy climate envoy in 2021 after four years as a senior climate change researcher at the United Nations Foundation. The group says it is working with the United Nations and its partners « to galvanize the collective action needed to address the climate challenge ».

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Rick Duke, the other deputy climate envoy, has held positions at the Brookings Institution, a liberal DC think tank, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a major environmental group, and Gigaton Strategies, a corporation. consultancy that advises non-profit organizations on low-carbon strategies.

Duke replaced Jonathan Pershing, who resumed his previous role as head of the Hewlett Foundation’s Climate Program, a billion-dollar nonprofit that regularly awards grants to far-left and environmental organizations.

Few details were shared about Kerry’s staff at the SPEC office which is housed at the State Department.

Under Pershing’s leadership in 2019, the foundation awarded more than $13 million to the ClimateWorks Foundation, $1.75 million to the United Nations Foundation’s climate programs, $1.3 million to WRI for its initiatives over $1 million to the National Wildlife Federation, $500,000 to EarthJustice, $450,000 to the Nature Conservancy, $175,000 to the Sierra Club Foundation and $75,000 to the NRDC.

Other current and past officials in the SPEC office including Reed Schuler, Managing Director of Delivery and Ambition, Varun Sivaram, Senior Advisor, Elliot Diringer, Senior Policy Advisor, Jesse Young, Senior Advisor, Gwynne Taraska , advisor, Madison Freeman, former senior innovation advisor, and Alan Yu, former senior advisor, were hired after serving in various climate-related roles at other nonprofits.

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They have worked at the Council on Foreign Relations, Center for American Progress, Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, Oxfam America, Climate Advisers, Ocean Conservancy, and the Clean Energy Leadership Institute.