Biden's National Climate Task Force Has First Official Meeting, Forms Climate Innovation Working Group
The White House National Climate Task Force, formed by a recent executive order, held its first meeting today. The first tweet from National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy’s official account displayed the participants.
Additionally, the White House announced the formation of the Climate Innovation Working Group as part of the Climate Task Force. The working group, co-chaired by the White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy, Office of Science of Technology and Policy, and Office of Management and Budget, will focus on climate technology research, development, and deployment.
According to the White House, the working group’s priorities will be:- zero net carbon buildings at zero net cost, including carbon-neutral construction materials;
- energy storage at one-tenth the cost of today’s alternatives;
- advanced energy system management tools to plan for and operate a grid powered by zero carbon power plants;
- very low-cost zero carbon on-road vehicles and transit systems;
- new, sustainable fuels for aircraft and ships, as well as improvements in broader aircraft and ship efficiency and transportation management;
- affordable refrigeration, air conditioning, and heat pumps made without refrigerants that warm the planet;
- carbon-free heat and industrial processes that capture emissions for making steel, concrete, chemicals, and other important industrial products;
- carbon-free hydrogen at a lower cost than hydrogen made from polluting alternatives;
- innovative soil management, plant biologies, and agricultural techniques to remove carbon dioxide from the air and store it in the ground;
- direct air capture systems and retrofits to existing industrial and power plant exhausts to capture carbon dioxide and use it to make alternative products or permanently sequester it deep underground.
As part of that initiative, the Department of Energy announced that $100 million of Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) funds will be directed to the new ARPA-Climate initiative in support of basic research for advanced climate technology.
White House participants in today’s National Climate Task Force meeting:- Vice President Kamala Harris
- John Kerry, United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate
- Gina McCarthy, White House National Climate Advisor
- Ali Zaidi, deputy White House National Climate Advisor
- Bruce Reed, White House Deputy Chief of Staff
- David Hayes, special assistant to the president for climate policy
- Sonia Aggarwal, Senior Advisor to the President for Climate Policy and Innovation
- Susan Rice, Director of the United States Domestic Policy Council
- Nicole Budzinski, Chief of Staff at Office of Management and Budget
- Brian Deese, Director of the National Economic Council
- Kei Koizumi, Chief of Staff and Acting Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy; during Obama administration was Assistant Director for Federal Research and Development and Senior Advisor to the Director for the National Science and Technology Council at OSTP
- Cecilia Martinez, senior director for environmental justice, Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ)
- Mark Chambers, senior director for building emissions, CEQ; formerly director of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s sustainability office
- Maggie Thomas, Chief of Staff, Office of Domestic Climate Policy
- Jahi Wise, senior adviser for climate policy and finance in the Office of Domestic Climate Policy https://coalitionforgreencapital.com/cgcs-jahi-wise-heads-to-white-house-domestic-climate-policy-office/
- Pete Buttigieg, Secretary of Transportation
- Janet Yellen, Secretary of Treasury
- Kathleen Hicks, Deputy Secretary of Defense
- Tarak Shah, Chief of Staff, Department of Energy
- Katelyn Walker Mooney, Policy Advisor, Department of Labor, previously the associate general counsel for House labor committee Chairman Bobby Scott
- Jenn Jones, Chief of Staff, Housing and Urban Development
- Robert Bonnie, Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Senior Advisor, Climate, Department of Agriculture
- Raj Nayak; was on Biden Department of Labor transition team, and deputy Labor chief of staff during the Obama administration
- Roque Sanchez; was on Biden DOE transition team, and a former White House climate advisor during the Obama administration
- National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy
- Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen
- Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin
- Attorney General (Merrick Garland, nominated)
- Secretary of the Interior (Deb Haaland, nominated)
- Secretary of Agriculture (Tom Vilsack, nominated)
- Secretary of Commerce (Gina Raimondo, nominated)
- Secretary of Education (Miguel Cardona, nominated)
- Secretary of Labor (Marty Walsh, nominated)
- Secretary of Health and Human Services (Xavier Becerra, nominated)
- Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (Marcia Fudge, nominated)
- Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg
- Secretary of Energy (Jennifer Granholm, nominated)
- Secretary of Homeland Security (Alejandro Mayorkas, nominated)
- Administrator of General Services (no nomination yet)
- Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality (Brenda Mallory, nominated)
- Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (Michael Regan, nominated)
- Director of the Office of Management and Budget (Neera Tanden, nominated)
- Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (Eric Lander, nominated)
- Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy Susan Rice
- Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Jake Sullivan
- Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall
- Assistant to the President for Economic Policy Brian Deese