NEW YORK – US President-elect Joe Biden Thursday announced appointments ofkey members of his climate team, which includes Pakistan-born Ali Zaidi whowill serve as deputy White House Climate Coordinator.
Zaidi, 33, currently New York’s deputy secretary for energy andenvironment, is the is the highest ranking Pakistani-American in the Bidenadministration.
He will work under Gina McCarthy, who ran the Environmental ProtectionAgency (EPA) under former President Barack Obama and now leads a majoradvocacy group, to coordinate the new administration’s domestic climateagenda.
“This brilliant, tested, trailblazing team will be ready on day one toconfront the existential threat of climate change with a unified nationalresponse rooted in science and equity. They share my belief that we have notime to waste to confront the climate crisis, protect our air and drinkingwater, and deliver justice to communities that have long shouldered theburdens of environmental harms,” Biden said in a statement.
A press release issued by Biden’s transition team described Zaidi as “aleading climate expert and longtime advisor to the president-elect,” notingthat he helped draft and implement the Obama-Biden Administration’s ClimateAction Plan and negotiate the Paris Climate Agreement.
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Zaidi, who immigrated from Pakistan, grew up in the Rust Belt outside Erie,Pennsylvania. He studied at Harvard and Georgetown Universities.
“Zaidi brings the cross-sector and multi-disciplinary experience needed todeliver a whole-of-government response to the climate crisis,” the pressrelease said.
Biden has given some key jobs to Americans of Indian origin, includingNeera Tanden, who will be director of the Office of Management and Budgetand Vivek Murthy, his nominee for surgeon general.
