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White House national climate adviser Gina McCarthy is stepping down on Sept. 16, the White House announced Friday, weeks after President Joe Biden signed major legislation to combat climate change.
McCarthy will be succeeded by Ali Zaidi, who is currently McCarthy’s deputy at the White House. Mr. Biden has also named former White House chief of staff John Podesta to be his senior adviser on clean energy innovation and implementation.
Podesta will be tasked with implementing the new climate legislation, which is aimed at reducing the cost of clean energy, among other goals. It invests nearly $400 billion in energy security and climate change proposals and would help reduce carbon emissions by approximately 40% by 2030.
To incentivize consumers to purchase technologies to lower emissions and energy prices, the law includes $9 billion in consumer home energy rebate programs, a $4,000 consumer tax credit to purchase used electric vehicles and a $7,500 tax credit to buy new clean vehicles, both of which are available only to lower and middle income individuals.
The law also invests $30 billion in production tax credits to speed U.S. production of solar panels, wind turbines, batters and critical minerals processing; $10 billion in tax credits to build clean technology manufacturing facilities, such as those that make electric vehicles and and solar panels; and $500 million through the Defense Production Act for heat pumps and critical minerals processing.
For rural communities, the plan invests more than $20 billion for “climate-smart agriculture practices,” grants for fire-resilient forests, forest conservation and urban tree planting, and $2.6 billion in grants for conservation and restoration of coastal habitats. It also imposes a charge of up to $1,500 per metric ton on oil and gas companies for methane emissions, and reinstates oil and gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska.
Podesta will be the chair of the president’s climate task force, and Zaidi will also be the vice chair.
Mr. Biden, in a statement, praised McCarthy and Zaidi for their roles in the climate legislation, calling the law “the biggest step forward on clean energy and climate in history.” He added that it “paves the way for additional steps we will take to meet our clean energy and climate goals.” He called McCarthy an “invaluable member” of his top staff since the beginning of his administration.
He also welcomed Podesta, who is the founder of the liberal think tank the Center for American Progress, into his new job, saying, “His deep roots in climate and clean energy policy and his experience at senior levels of government mean we can truly hit the ground running to take advantage of the massive clean energy opportunity in front of us.
“I am immensely grateful for Gina’s service, and I am proud to announce the promotion of Ali to National Climate Advisor. Gina has been an invaluable member of my senior staff since day 1 of the Administration, and I wish her the best as she moves forward.”
